building material in many countries including Japan, was found at the Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center, where the Olympic water polo events take place. In 2017, when the asbestos was first found in fireproof material sprayed on part of the structure supporting the swimming center's roof, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government decided to leave it, deeming that the small amount of the mineral present would not be accessible to visitors. In 2019, after media coverage, the organizers promised to take "emergency countermeasures" to solve the problem, without specifying what actions would be taken. Political and human rights issues Worker rights and safety in Olympic construction In 2017, the suicide of a Tokyo Olympic stadium worker was linked to overwork by Japanese labor inspectors. The 23-year-old man in charge of quality control of materials at the stadium construction site was found to have recorded 211 hours and 56 minutes of overtime in one month before he killed himself in March. Later in September, inspectors found illegal overwork in almost 40 companies, 18 of which had employees working overtime of more than 80 hours per month, and several of them exceeding 150 hours. According to the Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI) report on worker safety, "dangerous patterns of overwork", including cases of working up to 28 consecutive days, have been found at Tokyo Olympic construction sites. Construction workers, many of whom are foreign migrant workers, are reported to have been discouraged from reporting poor working conditions, and some workers are required to purchase their protective equipment. Acknowledgement of disputed territories Russian and South Korean officials took issue with a map of the torch relay on the Games' official website, which depicted the disputed Liancourt Rocks (territory claimed by Japan but governed by South Korea) and Kuril Islands (territory claimed by both Japan and Russia) as part of Japan. Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, described the inclusion as "illegal", and accused the Tokyo Organizing Committee of "politicizing" the Games. Rising sun flag The Japanese government's refusal to ban the controversial Rising Sun Flag in the Olympic sites has been criticized as going against the Olympic spirit, as the flag is offensive to East and Southeast Asian peoples due to its historical usage by the Imperial Japanese military during World War II, as well as its current usage by racist hate groups in Japan, such as Zaitokukai. The flag, often compared to Nazi swastika and U.S. Confederate flag in modern times, is associated with war crimes and atrocities committed under the Japanese Empire, as well as contemporary Japan's far-right nationalist attempts to revise, deny, and romanticise its imperialistic past. The controversial flag is currently banned by FIFA, and Japan was sanctioned by Asian Football Confederation after Japanese football fans flew it at an AFC Champions League in 2017. In September 2019, the South Korean parliamentary committee for sports asked the organizers of 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo to ban the Rising Sun Flag, and the Chinese Civil Association for Claiming Compensation from Japan sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee in order to ban the flag. Expressions of political opinions by athletes The International Olympic Committee (IOC) published three pages of guidelines prohibiting athletes from using political gestures, such as kneeling, hand gestures, and disrespect during medal ceremonies. They will be allowed to express political views on traditional media and social media, and in interviews outside the Olympic Village. Rule-50-Guidelines-Tokyo-2020.pdf The decision came under fire, with critics pointing out that IOC itself is not politically neutral, citing Adolf Hitler's actions during the 1936 Summer Olympics and the IOC's