Japan's single women a burden on the state, MP says

[war&peace]

• 5 hours ago

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Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionLast year just 941,000 children were born in Japan
An MP from Japan's governing party has been accused of sexism after he said young Japanese women should have more children or face being a burden on the state.

Speaking at an LDP party meeting, Kanji Kato said young women should have at least three children.

He has since retracted his remark, local media reported.

Last year the percentage of children in Japan fell to its lowest level since records began more than 100 years ago.

Financial and other incentives to encourage bigger families have had little impact.

Mr Kato said that when he gives wedding speeches he tells the bride and bridegroom to produce at least three children.

"We need three or more children from those people to make up for couples who cannot bear a child no matter what they do," he said. His comments were reported by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

The 72-year-old father-of-six also said that if he meets a woman who doesn't intend to marry, he tells her she will end up in a care home paid for by taxes from other people's children.

Several female MPs have complained the speech was sexist. "This is exactly sexual harassment," one female MP at the meeting said, the Mainichi Shimbun reported.

Mr Kato reportedly initially said he had no intention of retracting his remark, saying that boosting the birth rate was the "most important issue facing our nation", the Asahi Shimbun said.

But he later issued a statement saying: "I apologise if my words gave the wrong impression. Although I never intended to discriminate against women, I retract the remarks I made because they could have been interpreted as such."

Read more about gender in Japan

• Japanese women at a crossroads
• Baby ordered out of Japan assembly
• When Japan's women broke their silence
• Sumo wrestling's growing sexism problem

It is not the first time an older male member of the LDP party has told Japanese women they have a public duty to have more children.

Last year, just 941,000 children were born in Japan, the lowest number since records began in 1899.

In April this year, there were 15.53 million children under 15, down 170,000 from the previous year, the internal affairs ministry says.

The Japanese government has also been trying to make it easier for mothers to continue working after giving birth.

Last year a female local politician brought her baby to a council session to show how difficult it was for women to juggle careers and raise children.

Related Topics

 

[Armchair-General]

Anime resulted in Japanese men turning into hentai watching virgins who are shut-ins and afraid of relationships. Lol.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori
(Anime is cool tho)

 

[war&peace]

Anime resulted in Japanese men turning into hentai watching virgins who are shut-ins and afraid of relationships. Lol.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori
(Anime is cool tho)

Please elaborate...what is hentai?

 

[Armchair-General]

Illustrated (Drawn) ****

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hentai

hentai
hɛnˈtʌɪ/
noun

1. a subgenre of the Japanese genres of manga and anime, characterized by overtly sexualized characters and sexually explicit images and plots.

Anime p o r n

This also came from Japan:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tentacle_erotica

 

[Mista]

The 72-year-old father-of-six also said that if he meets a woman who doesn't intend to marry, he tells her she will end up in a care home paid for by taxes from other people's children.

He's actually right. Who pays for the retirement and healthcare?

 

[My-Analogous]

• 5 hours ago

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Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionLast year just 941,000 children were born in Japan
An MP from Japan's governing party has been accused of sexism after he said young Japanese women should have more children or face being a burden on the state.

Speaking at an LDP party meeting, Kanji Kato said young women should have at least three children.

He has since retracted his remark, local media reported.

Last year the percentage of children in Japan fell to its lowest level since records began more than 100 years ago.

Financial and other incentives to encourage bigger families have had little impact.

Mr Kato said that when he gives wedding speeches he tells the bride and bridegroom to produce at least three children.

"We need three or more children from those people to make up for couples who cannot bear a child no matter what they do," he said. His comments were reported by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

The 72-year-old father-of-six also said that if he meets a woman who doesn't intend to marry, he tells her she will end up in a care home paid for by taxes from other people's children.

Several female MPs have complained the speech was sexist. "This is exactly sexual harassment," one female MP at the meeting said, the Mainichi Shimbun reported.

Mr Kato reportedly initially said he had no intention of retracting his remark, saying that boosting the birth rate was the "most important issue facing our nation", the Asahi Shimbun said.

But he later issued a statement saying: "I apologise if my words gave the wrong impression. Although I never intended to discriminate against women, I retract the remarks I made because they could have been interpreted as such."

Read more about gender in Japan

• Japanese women at a crossroads
• Baby ordered out of Japan assembly
• When Japan's women broke their silence
• Sumo wrestling's growing sexism problem

It is not the first time an older male member of the LDP party has told Japanese women they have a public duty to have more children.

Last year, just 941,000 children were born in Japan, the lowest number since records began in 1899.

In April this year, there were 15.53 million children under 15, down 170,000 from the previous year, the internal affairs ministry says.

The Japanese government has also been trying to make it easier for mothers to continue working after giving birth.

Last year a female local politician brought her baby to a council session to show how difficult it was for women to juggle careers and raise children.

Related Topics

Send them to India for illegal way and send us for legal way. We are ready to help Japan

 

[war&peace]

Send them to India for illegal way and send us for legal way. We are ready to help Japan

Stupid comment

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

After centuries of isolation from China and renounced Chinese culture and despite Japanese politicians embrace and open Japan to western way of living, nerveless Japanese's culture is just not compatible to western, women are living in a boring self closing society and men work 80 hrs/ weeks and live in their own fantasy world. Only by return to Chinese culture and be part of sinosphere as ancient time will bring them greater vitality, our oriental way of thinking and living is 100% compatible with Japanese. Even our inner Mongolian brother and sisters are embracing Chinese culture, they know that Chinese culture is not from a single region but a universality of 1.4 billion people.

Chinese style Mongolian

 

[LeGenD]

This is how a nation dies ; women turn into Feminazis and don't listen to their elders. Japan used to be a great power - now a mere shadow of its former-self.

China is still family-oriented, if I am not wrong?

WESTERN culture is TOXIC in the context of relationships.

@Beast

Can you enlighten in regards to family values in China?

 

[beijingwalker]

Japanese women are better than their men and their decline has nothing to do with their women, the world market is just that big, one goes up another must come down, same goes for the relationship between US and China in the future.

 

[Cybernetics]

After centuries of isolation from China and renounced Chinese culture and despite Japanese politicians embrace and open Japan to western way of living, nerveless Japanese's culture is just not compatible to western, women are living in a boring self closing society and men work 80 hrs/ weeks and live in their own fantasy world. Only by return to Chinese culture and be part of sinosphere as ancient time will bring them greater vitality, our oriental way of thinking and living is 100% compatible with Japanese. Even our inner Mongolian brother and sisters are embracing Chinese culture, they know that Chinese culture is not from a single region but a universality of 1.4 billion people.

Chinese style Mongolian

Japan is nation with few resources and land, basic costs of living would naturally be expensive. They are also protectionist in the agricultural sector as a strategic measure. Food is cheap in China, at least there is access to cheap food options thanks to the productivity of Chinese agriculture.

Chinese civilizational culture evolved over thousands of years.

Manchu song. The movie scene is Qing vs Korea

Drinking song

This is how a nation dies ; women turn into Feminazis and don't listen to their elders. Japan used to be a great power - now a mere shadow of its former-self.

China is still family-oriented, if I am not wrong?

WESTERN culture is TOXIC in the context of relationships.

@Beast

Can you enlighten in regards to family values in China?

Most Chinese women accept gender roles even the relatively progressive ones on the surface, its not a controversial topic like in the West. Man and women are different but both are important and each should be respected in different ways. The man also has to do his part, no one gets a free ride. People see it as a symbiotic relationship. I'm sure you can find a population of people that disregards this.

China is family-oriented in the sense that people still abide by filial piety. This notion is very strong in China. Respect of elders is mandatory (sounds serious but it is pretty light hearted). Due to this notion being deeply embedded, it is not seen as oppressive whatsoever, just a normal social dynamic. I don't think people in China would respect someone who doesn't respect elders, even if they don't at heart they have to pretend they do.

The government exercise some controls on the media against promotion of sex, drugs, non traditional family values, etc or at least they try to. The punishment for users isn't as harsh (there are rehab centres for them) but promoters and profiteers get harsh punishment.

China is testing VR as a tool for rehabilitating drug users. It is used to alter memories of drug use to connect with something negative to break the habit. The software finds the person's fears and connects the drug experience with that fear/phobia.

 

[Kiss_of_the_Dragon]

Even Vietnamese are still respect and preserve their traditional Chinese culture such as respect their elders and worship their ancestor as Chinese, they're not westernized. Japanese back to Sinosphere family will only be good for them, their ancestor had already embrace Chinese culture since long time so they're not losing anything, they still have their dignity and self respect.

Vietnamese traditional music remind me of my hometown opera. Some place still preserve Hanzi

 

[Mista]

Even Vietnamese are still respect and preserve their traditional Chinese culture such as respect their elders and worship their ancestor as Chinese, they're not westernized. Japanese back to Sinosphere family will only be good for them, their ancestor had already embrace Chinese culture since long time so they're not losing anything, they still have their dignity and self respect.

Vietnamese traditional music remind me of my hometown opera. Some place still preserve Hanzi

The Japanese do very much still respect their elders and worship their ancestors, as well as preserving Kanji/Hanzi and observing Confucian etiquettes. In fact, I would argue that Japan and Korea are more Confucian than China today.

But I don't see what has this got to do with this thread, which is about Japan's aging population and growing dependency ratio due to low birthrates. All countries in the Sinosphere have TFR below replacement rate, including North Korea. Our population will soon decline if this carries on.

 

[Brainsucker]

It is not about culture. But more of economic pressure and lifestyle. People who live in a mega city tend to have fewer children than people who live in smaller towns and villages. In a smaller town, where you live with smaller pressure and lighter job, raising Children won't burdened you much. You can raise 2 - 3 children without afraid of economical burden.

And of course, responsible sex also can help more offspring. So for the Japanese to get more children, they need to ban all type of condom and contraception tools.

 

[seesonic]

This is how a nation dies ; women turn into Feminazis and don't listen to their elders. Japan used to be a great power - now a mere shadow of its former-self.

China is still family-oriented, if I am not wrong?

WESTERN culture is TOXIC in the context of relationships.

@Beast

Can you enlighten in regards to family values in China?

Since when Japan arent great anymore?