Tokyo governor hopes for boost from Japan's women athletes

Rather hear Koike talk about women's issues than Abe and the old-fogies, at least she knows what she is talking about.

and planting more trees.

We only have four more years so we have to make our utmost efforts

And, some miraculously fast growing trees!

Rather hear Koike talk about women's issues than Abe and the old-fogies, at least she knows what she is talking about.

Most of what Abe has said about women and the economy and women in management has been taken from Kathy Matsui and her womenomics, sometimes with explicit attribution by name. So, if you say Abe doesn't know what he is talking about, your are in effect saying that Kathy Matsui doesn't know what she is talking about.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303759604579091680931293404 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-01-21/goldman-s-matsui-turns-abe-to-womenomics-for-japan-growth

Unmarried, childless, and a high income television career behind her, Koike is not necessarily more in touch with low income working women with kids than is Abe and the other old-fogies.

For the record: I voted for her. I'm not knocking her. Just suggesting that being a woman in a powerful position doesn't necessarily mean you are good news for ordinary women.

Most of what Abe has said about women and the economy and women in management has been taken from Kathy Matsui and her womenomics, sometimes with explicit attribution by name. So, if you say Abe doesn't know what he is talking about, your are in effect saying that Kathy Matsui doesn't know what she is talking about.

Guess what....then she doesn't as Abe's so-called policies to get more women involved in work force have failed terribly.

So, if you say this woman is advising Abe, he needs to find a woman who knows what's going on!

Guess what....then she doesn't as Abe's so-called policies to get more women involved in work force have failed terribly.

Your evidence? Workforce participation for prime age Japanese women is now slightly higher than the US. The US rate is going down, the Japanese rate is going up.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/10/07/how-american-women-fell-behind-japanese-women-in-the-workplace/

https://www.aei.org/publication/why-is-the-us-labor-force-participation-rate-so-low-even-lower-than-germany-japan-and-uk/

The Japanese female labor force participation rate is also above the OECD average.

The 25-54 participation rate for Japanese women is 71.8%. The OECD average is 66.9% (2015 data). The high end is represented by Iceland at 82.1%, the low end by Turkey at 34.6%. The Japanese rate has been going steadily upward albeit at a slow pace.

Where do you think the waiting list problem with childcare facilities comes from? The number of places has been expanded under Abe but because more women are in the workforce or are staying in the workforce rather than dropping out for childcare the waiting list problem persists.

If the workforce participation rate for women was static or declining while the number of places was increasing, the daycare waiting list problem would solve itself as kids belonging to working mothers aged out of daycare into primary school and the applicant/places ratio declined.

As I have said repeatedly, I don't like Abe and I don't vote for the LDP. But, at the same time I don't like criticisms of him or anyone else that are not based on facts. There are many areas where Abe can be criticized based on hard data. Why not stick to those areas?

I would also note that it is neither Abe Shinzo nor Kathy Matsui nor you nor I who should be deciding whether Japanese women enter the workforce. That is a decision for each Japanese woman to make.

Your evidence? Workforce participation for prime age Japanese women is now slightly higher than the US. The US rate is going down, the Japanese rate is going up.

Obfuscate and deflect.....there are plenty of articles here that say his polices regarding women have failed.

would also note that it is neither Abe Shinzo nor Kathy Matsui nor you nor I who should be deciding whether Japanese women enter the workforce. That is a decision for each Japanese woman to make.

Nice try, never said anything otherwise, but you have it wrong. Men have a responsibility as well, but I doubt you see where or how, and I am not going to educate you about it either.

Forcing both parents in a family to work to survive is not defined as "good" by everyone.

Obfuscate and deflect.....there are plenty of articles here that say his polices regarding women have failed.

Right you are and they come to the conclusions the same way you appear to be doing - on the basis of anti-Abe feeling rather than hard data. You may believe everything you read. I don't. I go for facts and hard data.

Nice try, never said anything otherwise, but you have it wrong. Men have a responsibility as well, but I doubt you see where or how, and I am not going to educate you about it either.

"Men have a responsibility as well" to do what? Tell women how they should manage their lives? I think not.

I'm heartbroken that you are not going to try to educate me but I think I can soldier on by continuing to read widely in English and Japanese, both commentary and hard data sources such as come out of the OECD and the World Bank.

"You may believe everything you read. I don't. I go for facts and hard data."

Why are you so confident that these numbers released by the OECD and World Bank are so trustworthy and unbiased? The OECD is an organization dominated by white-majority European countries. The World Bank's president has always been an American with some cause to promote. If data released by the World Economic Forum and other agencies regarding gender equality and press freedom in Japan are bogus and biased and unreliable, as you have suggested elsewhere, why such faith in numbers put out by the OECD and World Bank? Is it just because these particular numbers make Japan look relatively better and back up whatever point you're trying to make here?

She has better speech than male politicians in Japan. She is ready to accept huge ad income to cope summer heat?