Heckled lawmaker says Abe's good intentions not enough

Japan likes to view its country that enables the freedom of speech but you know it's a load of crock. I'm thinking she may have harsher opinions regarding the Abe's fluff plan but she just cannot say it. She will be flooded with hate mails if she said in a disagreeable tone. Regular Japanese would probably feel the same way towards Abe as we do.

@marcelito Why, the LDP's response with an apology was appropriate. Even the PM has apologised. Resigning over a comment in the interest of political correctness is a Western norm, and an unproductive one at that.

At least Suzuki expressed honestly what he believed. Wasn't that what you foreigners wanted? Instead of "insincere fake smiles" and "niceties"?

Abe can say all he wants to about having women in the work place, but unless he starts to enact some equal opportunity legislation it simply will not happen. Japan's parochial chauvanism is deeply ingrained and cannot be easily changed just because Abe says they should. If he's serious he needs to set quotas and get legislating, not just blowing hot air.

Having spoken to a few salaryman on this issue the general response to women in the work force is not as overtly hostile as at the Tokyo assembly, but invariably: 'I hope there are more female managers, but not at my company because they would be too strict'.

So given this widespread attitude Abe is going to have to do a lot more than flap his gums on the issue.

Akihiro Suzuki, a member of Abe’s Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP), first denied making such remarks but later publicly apologized.

This should be amended to say, he apologized, then made the exact same remarks again in front of cameras "nicely."

Abe is the head of this LDP ship and knows perfectly well Suzuki is not the only one in that party (and others) who genuinely feels a woman's place is at home as a childbearer/rearer. He talks a good talk, but actions are what matter. Abe needs to put up or shut up with this blantant empty pandering.

Why, the LDP's response with an apology was appropriate.

Bull. This was a total non-apology. His misogynistic comment was that she should get married. Then look at his so-called "apology":

“I recognize that there are women who want to get married and can’t, and those who want to have children and can’t. My comments were lacking in concern towards people like that.”

He's saying that if you're a woman who makes the decision not to marry or have children, then he doesn't care if you're offended by his remarks. He's clearly saying that he believes the ultimate goal of women should be to become a wife and a mother.

It's misogynists like Suzuki and the whole of the LDP that continue to hold back Japan.

What is she? I got from Linkln because some people created some kind of web pages.

Ayaka Shimomura's Overview

Current FMCG Researcher at Asian Consumer Intelligence

Education Community College of Philadelphia

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Ayaka Shimomura's Experience

FMCG Researcher

Asian Consumer Intelligence

Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Think Tanks industry

August 2009 Present (4 years 11 months)

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Ayaka Shimomura's Education

Community College of Philadelphia

Associate's degree, Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities

2007 - 2009

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Activities and Societies: Honors Curriculum, Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia, Creative Writing Club

Rather than "heckled lawmaker", why not use her name in the title of the article? The idiots who criticized her have inadvertently made her very well-known and hopefully she'll stick to her guns and help educate men.