The operator of Japanese beef bowl chain Yoshinoya has fired an executive for making derogatory remarks about women.

Yoshinoya Holdings says it discharged Ito Masaaki at an extraordinary board meeting on Monday.
He was also a managing director of its subsidiary Yoshinoya.

Ito made the comments at a business seminar hosted by Waseda University on Saturday. He asked his audience to come up with a marketing strategy that would make young women who have just left their homes in the countryside "addicted to beef bowls" like they were on drugs.
His remarks drew widespread criticism after they were posted on social media. Yoshinoya canceled an event scheduled for Tuesday to launch a new product.
Yoshinoya Holdings says Ito's remarks were inexcusable and extremely inappropriate from the standpoint of human rights and gender equality.