politics

Ruling party lawmaker justifies remark urging more childbearing

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A 72 year old law maker, well there's the problem right there.

17 ( +19 / -2 )

What an airhead. Basically saying to young women that their job is l to pump out children for the sake of Japan. Idiots like him residing in government position have done nothing to help fix the problem like building more daycares which is sorely needed.

16 ( +18 / -2 )

Kanji Kato, a 72-year-old House of Representatives member from the No. 2 constituency in Nagasaki Prefecture, told a regular meeting of the local LDP chapter that he had received many supportive comments regarding his remark from across the country.

Right the supportive comments came from your constituency which for the most part consists of people your own age who are well beyond the age of being able to give birth to, let along raise a child! This is called "covering one's arse"

One message of support said there was nothing wrong with asking healthy and fertile people to have children, according to Kato.

Yeah there is a hell of a lot wrong with asking people to do something you yourself are unable to do! Hypocritical at best!

You as a supposed lawmaker and elected representative of the people have a moral and ethical responsibility to ensure that the people can do or choose whatever life they want for themselves. You have no right to expect, ask, beg, nor urge, anyone to do what you can not!.

However, if you truly THINK this way, then you have a responsibility to ensure that any parents that wish to have more children are supported fully by the government so they can properly raise their children!

You and your fellow LDP cronies in government have failed miserably, and only care about the elderly, your voting base, and you talk out your arse on issues like this!

15 ( +16 / -1 )

Yubaru exactly I'm not the only one who sees the self serving Hippocrates destroying a beautiful society.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

One message of support said there was nothing wrong with asking healthy and fertile people to have children

Yes, it is wrong because it's not your freaking business.

You don't have to "ask" people to have kids. People must choose to have kids or not on their own, and that's it.

Being "healthy and fertile" doesn't matter. We are not breeding machines.

This such a private, intimate and heavy matter, I guess annoyed every time someone tries to force it on another person.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

isn't 65 the retirement age for everyone?

What makes these old fools above the law?

Old foggies like this need culled.

10 ( +12 / -2 )

Considering the 100 hours overwork law they railroaded earlier, young working people will even have less time for bearing or caring their children.

The death of a country, ruled by 70s politicans who are too busy sexually harrassing their staff.

13 ( +14 / -1 )

So which is it? Get a job? Or, have a baby?

Man, the inneptitude of these privileged guys is just too much!

Yet, they are so skillful as to ignore and not confront the root issues that are right in front of them. Just to buy time until their golden parachute. Selfish, vile beings that have done so much damage to the people of Japan.

13 ( +14 / -1 )

Just wondering, has this guy said that women belong in the home, or his he cool with women working with 3+ kids?

if he is for abolishing all the crap ageism that exists and the notion that a job is for life, then I’d be with him.

People would have more kids if they didn’t have concerns about trade offs with their ability to find fruitful work.

it all starts with labour market reform.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Gotta love how these "lawmakers" think that whenever they say something controversial they can just retract the remark and it goes away. Try using that one with your boss next time he overhears you call him a #@%*

What they fail to realise is that people say what they think. He may have retracted the statement, but it's now a matter of record that that is what be personally believes.

Old dudes in their 70s and older have no business making decisions for our future that they won't be here to see, never mind feel the effect.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Not ageism more a fact that a 75 year old man has no idea how hard it is to live on a poverty level salery. When he has and is earning a month what most people take a year to earn. Story doesn't say but how many children does he have? Why has he not gathered enough funds to retire?

6 ( +7 / -1 )

We need more childbearing but women have gotten so skittish because of media reporting, that a man can't even look their way without facing a sexual harassment issue. Women were made to have babies, raise them and keep the home. Men have failed to men, so its about time men become men and support their homes.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

@econstats

Getting old myself mate. (just turned 53 but like to think I'm still on top of things)

The age aspect is ever only an issue when you have someone so out of touch with modern day living, because what was common in their day (and larger families were more common in his day) is no longer common for a variety of reasons. The sheer expense of raising a child now being the most obvious.

This "lawmaker" (As marcelito so perfectly stated) probably hasn't practiced what he is preaching. He wan't us to make the changes when it is his job to make the changes by enacting laws that encourage a better opportunity to have children.

Then in the second breath they want women to get back to work. Well, which is it?

You want both!?

Well, provide the assistance you lawmakers say you will but never do.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

So how many kids does this dinosaur have..

Apparently he has six kids and 9 grandkids. So his own kids are far from producing 3 each.

We need more childbearing but women have gotten so skittish because of media reporting

My friend's daughter, at the age of thirty, is single and is a contract worker. She's tried to get hired as a seishain, with no luck. She is on a contract that has to be renewed every three months and that the company is under no obligation to renew. If she were to marry and get pregnant she would be entitled to no maternity leave or childcare leave: she would be unemployed.

She is far from being the only Japanese female in the same situation. Until and unless the dinosaurs reform the employment market, she and others like her cannot have kids - unless she finds that high-earning husband willing and able to support her and her kids.

'The media' have nothing to do with it.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

@marcelito

So how many kids does this dinosaur have...

I got curious too, so I searched a little :

When he encounters young women who say they do not intend to marry, Kato, who has six children and eight grandchildren, said: “I tell them that if they don’t get married then they won’t be able to have children, and that they’ll end up in a care home paid for with the taxes of other people’s children.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/11/single-women-a-burden-on-the-state-says-japanese-mp

Quite the gentleman...

10 ( +11 / -1 )

Westerners have no right? Asians are welcomed in the west but apparently not reciprocated. My western country has more than several Asian politicians. None of which are 75. Retirement usually begins at 60/65. Myself and friends at 50, so think I might be able to question a 75 yo who needs to work due to no plan at all or no imagination as to a life after work. He has no right to judge anyone. He is a pathetic old man. Unable to look after himself let alone comment on others.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

Easy for him to say given that he's passed his sell by date, and his salary likely exceeds that of of someone half his age, whereby he could actually afford to raise 3 kids!

Just retire old man!

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Yubaru

You as a supposed lawmaker and elected representative of the people have a moral and ethical responsibility to ensure that the people can do or choose whatever life they want for themselves. You have no right to expect, ask, beg, nor urge, anyone to do what you can not!

Relax. Of course he has the right to express his opinion. It’s a free country as they say. Just because he comes off as a dinosaur who obviously doesn’t want to understand the real issue doesn’t mean he cannot say it. Plus the guy has six kids, so it’s hardly being hypocritical. I think you’re under the mistaken understanding that people will feel obligated to follow his “orders.” On that point I’m 99% sure you have nothing to worry about.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

So who is going to support those 3 kids? The average single earner family cannot do it. Farm families tend to have more kids because they are needed as hands. In urban life kids are expensive pets. Japan is predominantly urban. Not having kids is a boost in urban life. That's the reality.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

The people that voted this guy in over and over again need a spanking.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

I dont quite get what the big fuss is about. Having children is what keeps the wheels of society turning. Kids who end up getting jobs and paying taxes are what ensures there is enough money to provide care for the elderly. He seems to be just stating what is necessary for the survival of Japan. He didnt say "if you dont have three children you are a failure" (afaik), and he didnt say that three children would be easy in todays society. But at the end of the day people have been having large families with small incomes since the beginning of time. People just seem to expect that they can keep their DINK lifestyles after starting a family.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

She's tried to get hired as a seishain, with no luck. She is on a contract that has to be renewed every three months and that the company is under no obligation to renew. If she were to marry and get pregnant she would be entitled to no maternity leave or childcare leave: she would be unemployed.

Yes.

Even seishain workers face maternity harassment depending on the company.

But this two-tier aspect of the labour market must be abolished.

If the playing field were level for all workers, companies wanting to employ women would have to hire mothers, or hire no women at all.

Japan's crap laws have a lot to do with the problem, the other factors are cultural.

The concept of women being penalised in the labour market due to having kids is simply ridiculous. It's ridiculous for the women obviously, but it's holding Japan's companies back too, as well as the country's birthrate.

Have kids, have a career in the labour market, pay more tax, have higher propensity to consume - what's wrong with this? It's all good.

Japan will get back on track if it reforms the labour market - no piecemeal style demonstrated by the current Abe administration with its incremental fiddling around the egdes, but absolutely big bang style reforms. All that is needed is some guts in the LDP. (Because there is no democracy here, the key is that the next leader of the LDP has a mind to go big or go home.)

4 ( +4 / -0 )

What a completely idiotic statement! He wants newlyweds to have at least three kids and live in a 2LDK apartment with no childcare vacancies in a flailing and stale economy? These idiots will say anything to avoid the inevitable truth of, Japan has to increase immigration to increase the workforce. They also need to rebuild the economy domestically and stop wasting their efforts in international markets that no longer belong to Japan.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Funny how this twit says that, but we all remember the fuss made BY THE LDP when a lawmaker brought her child into the Diet because she had no where to leave her little one. Abe and the LDP are incapable of providing proper child services for the children already here, and this guy wants people to have more kids when they can't even provide for the ones that they have??

In addition to that, I doubt if the self- entitled bluebloods know how much the average worker makes here.

Look, if they want 3 kids for each couple then the mother is going to have to be a stay home susie homemaker, which is fine if A. That's what she wants and B. her husband can support her.

Now, to support a family of 5, believe me, you are going to need about 400,000 a month. At LEAST. And that's if the family hunkers down, never eats out, never go on a trip..etc.

The problem is that the LDP is truly divorced from the reality on the ground. They have been silver spoon fed from day one and have no empathy for the hard working citizen.

This "lawmaker" (As marcelito so perfectly stated) probably hasn't practiced what he is preaching. He wan't us to make the changes when it is his job to make the changes by enacting laws that encourage a better opportunity to have children.

Exactly.

Then in the second breath they want women to get back to work. Well, which is it?

You want both!?

Well, provide the assistance you lawmakers say you will but never do.

EXTREMELY well said! right on the money.

Westerners have no right? Asians are welcomed in the west but apparently not reciprocated. My western country has more than several Asian politicians. None of which are 75. Retirement usually begins at 60/65.

Cricky- you are assuming that Japan is on par with the west. it isn't. They are soooo far behind.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Can someone explain exactly what is so offensive about this? Japan has a problem with its population pyramid and an increased fertility rate would obviously help ease that. He is simply asking people to have more children. He is not demanding that anyone quit their job or that people have children if they can't actually afford them. There is also no reason to think he would disagree with any of the pro-natal policies people have mentioned (more daycares, maternity leave for temp workers, etc). People seem to be irrationally angry at this guy.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

He said this at a wedding reception, presumably a private function, so I suppose he's free to say what he likes when talking to one individual couple. Anyone who has a ruling lawmaker at their wedding will be well-to-do and can probably afford three kids. It is not offensive to suggest, at a wedding, that having a large family brings happiness.

If it were a public function and he was telling everyone to "have three or more kids for the motherland", that would certainly be offensive. As would racist or overtly sexist remarks made anywhere, public or private.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

He is correct in his mind if he respects women and has been promoting himself family measures. Apparently, at least, he has made good efforts in his life with 6 kids, unlike some barking PM.

Having enough families of 3s in a society is a must in a successful and lasting large country such as Japan. Just maths and an happy meaning.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

M3M3M3, i dont get it either. He has said that the declining birthrate is the number one problem in Japan; which means he is probably all for reforms to ensure this happens.

I thought it might have been some nuances to the way he said it, or perhaps something to do with the sentences surrounding it... But looking it up it seems he said "there are couples out there who, despite best efforts, cannot have children. So for the sake of those people, i think families need to raise at least 3 children."

Seems like a reasonable statement to make.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Those old enough lawmakers called "senseis" speak the whole time where all people around are bored listening things ridiculous like him. Something I found there is no wisdom from the age in the speech and even can't say with humor to people around smile. Most of those "senseis" can't feel out the situation. That's the reality still existing in any event or ceremony in Japan.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Isnt the man entitled to his own opinion? Just because your a lawmaker you cant have free speech? All of you on here are just virtue singling to eachother, but there is a real problem here in japan.

Yes you can blame it on the previous generation for their mismanagement of the nenkin system and few children they had, but you also have to remember that during ww2 the government pushed people to have 7- 8 children as war bonds for the empire. Do they blame their parents for giving birth to too many of them.

Point being, your not really helping the situation by going on here and complaining about some old lawmaker giving some suggestions to young people. Its not a law hes presenting. There are already plenty of social programs in place to encourage couples to have children, and no matter what that old guy says or your compaints on japan today is going to change the fact japan needs more children.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

How can anyone defend this guy. He is a politician! He may be entitled to speak privately but he should know better than to make these remarks publically. (at a wedding I hear) to which people have access.

here's an idea to any other entitled politician who thinks they have all the answers...

Raise peoples income.

Put the daycare centers in place.

Cut the working hours and overtime.

Give reasonable vaction time.

Have systems in place for workers to report breaches of the above.

Then and only then can you complain that folk ain't having enough children.

You will have a point!

...and folk like me are more likely to listen and agree with you.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

A declining birthrate is great news for Japan and our planet. We DO NOT need more people. The complete opposite in fact. Don't fall for the usual 'self centered & illogical' excuses.

Our planet cannot sustain the rapid rise in population. Just look at the pollution and scarce resources we have now...

The 'self-centered' politicians / central banks desperately need population growth because of the corrupt 'debt money system' they all depend upon. Which means they need 'tax growth' (a constantly supply of tax payers) in order to keep funding AND growing the debt.

Based on the state of our planet, there is not one single reason to justify population growth, period...

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

If LDP vote-buying, financed by high food tariffs were ended, Japanese people could more easily afford to feed children.

If rampant price-fixing wasn’t practiced by Japan’s industries, and was punished instead of being overlooked by amakudari job-seeking politicians, other things would be less expensive, and people could afford to have children.

If 19th century business practices (like requiring a hanko on all business and official documents) were pulled into the 20th century, businesses would stop gravitating to the large metro areas where housing is too small and too expensive to raise children.

The government should be blaming itself for the current environment where the cost of living is too high to raise children, or the people should be blaming themselves for electing these crooked, geriatric clowns.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Exactly!

The LDP tax everything out there!

Even school books are taxed!

Food, clothes, newspapers, transportation,your home.

So, have more kids and pay more tax!

It’s robbery....

1 ( +1 / -0 )

What have those old farts done for their Country ?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Why 3 Children? Does not make any sense! Two Children is the number each family should be held at. Why over populate this Wonderful World?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Why over populate this Wonderful World?

Exactly. But we are all force-brainwashed, int this capitalistic world, that only 'bigger' and 'more' is better...

Imagine all the people that will have to suffer horrible existences in the future due to our weaknesses, ignorance and greed in this age/generation.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Some people commenting don't like basic maths, i.e hopeless, and should be thinking before writing.

To just maintain population level requires 2.1 fertility rate.

Even decrease of population has asserted by some needs a level close to two. Why not indeed !

But Japan's has under 1.5 for a generation (25 years), meaning a total CRASH will happen : each 4 persons you see will already become 3 for certain (despite immigration of a few millions ...)

Providing assistance to families of 3 is a must one day or another. And as far as I know, only women can get pregnant lol.

Politicians need to change.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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