The Health minister said couples should want at least two kids? How dare he!
Japan’s Health Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa, who got himself into deep trouble recently when he called women “birth-giving machines” in a speech on demographics, is under fire again for new comments he made:
Health Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa, in hot water for calling women “birth-giving machines,” said on Tuesday that it was only natural for a couple to want at least two children when he talked about policies to deal with the declining birthrate in Japan.
Opposition party politicians reportedly criticized Yanagisawa for thinking about people’s happiness in terms of the number of children a couple wants.
Yanagisawa, minister for health, labor and welfare, lodged another apology for his “birth-giving machine” gaffe during a press conference on Tuesday. He reiterated that he had no intention to resign over his comments.
Yanagisawa also spoke on Japan’s declining birthrate. “We have to come up with policies for couples to want at least two children,” he said. (Mainichi)
While the “birth-giving machines” comment was quite bad (and one could argue that he should have resigned because of it), I’m kind of struggling to see whats so bad about his latest statement. What’s wrong with encouraging Japanese couples to have at least two children? In case you haven’t noticed, Japan is facing a gigantic population decline problem here, folks! It’s up to the Health Minister to get Japanese couples producing as many babies as possible, because I’m guessing that hell will freeze over before the government considers the other possible solution to the demographic problem [immigration].
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My Japanese teacher commented in our class last week that it is sad how the youth in Japan are so unfamiliar with their country’s heritage and traditions. She remarked that it is now the case that foreigners who have an interest in Japanese culture are likely to know more about it than teenage or 20-something Japanese people.
I don’t know what the current immigration situation is (apart from the lack of dual residency, which is a shame), but perhaps they should introduce a system where those who wish to naturalise can demonstrate their knowledge of the country by passing an exam (like they have in America). At least then someone will take an interest in preserving the unique Japanese culture, even if it is just the gaijin.
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Migrants are coming like it or not. It’s either a eyes wide open policy, or eyes wide shut policy. My guess is the government will choose the former.
Here’s a link to an *excellent* on-line essay:
http://migration.ucdavis.edu/rs/more.php?id=39_0_3_0
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I think it’s causing such a stir because he’s implying that government policy should dictate the number of children people have. That’s a very personal decision and one I don’t think very many people would enjoy the government making for them.
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I don’t see anything wrong with this at all. He wasn’t even suggesting that parents should have to kids, he was just mentioning it. His bone-head comment about baby making machines was dense but this is harmless.
Anything complaints are just from people who just want to see him gone.
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For this one, he was just reporting a recent survey of unmarried 20-somthings, where 85% said if they got married they’d want at least two kids. The word he used was 健全, which according to WWWJDIC means “health; soundness; wholesome”.
I’ll have to find that survey myself…
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Hey labour shortage is a problem, but crowding is a worse one in the already dense nation of Japan. Labour shortage problems come and go, as does affluence. If Japan ever hits a genuinely long and serious depression, having a larger population than they can sustain at their worst will become a serious issue.
It happen in my part of Canada. Back in the 70s, there was a massive boom centred on my city (due to discovering oil), and the population grew over ten times what it was in a short period. Then we hit a fifteen year recession, and the city turned into a pit of poverty and crime. The local economy has healed in the last ten years, and it’s not so much of a problem, but, yeah, it’s better to have a labour shortage than more people than your economy can employ.
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The problem is that the government has no business determining what is a “healthy and sound” attitude toward marriage and childbearing. According to a survey Yanagisawa cited, 85% of “young people” said they would like to get married and have two or more kids. He described that as a “healthy and sound” attitude. The uproar occured when opposition party leaders pointed out that his comments could be construed to mean that people who a. don’t want to get married, or b. want less than two kids (errr, no kids?) don’t have a “healthy, sound attitude.”
But what Yanagisawa’s comment really demonstrates is that the LDP basically has its own interests foremost in mind: the more kids people have, the more money there will be for government retirement benefits.
Rather than figuring out a workable strategy to deal with reality, the LDP apparently thinks it’s easier to brainwash people into doing what makes it easier for the LDP to run the government; in this case: have more babies.
Shameful.
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If Im not mistaken, a think tank on the subject, several years ago published a finding which said Japan would need to bring in two or three hundred thousand (I may be wrong on those figures) migrants per year for the next twenty years or so just in order to have enough people of the age, and willingness, to work in the menial jobs that most people in Japan these days dont want to lower themselves to.
I can understand why a university graduate wouldnt want to go sweeping streets, IF theyve actually studied for their degree…..but sometimes people have to bite the bullet and take whatever is available.
And you can bet London to a brick no Japanese politician is going to stand outside a train station yelling through a megaphone “WE NEED MORE IMMIGRANTS!!” Unless of course they can have immigrants with a “use by date”, that they can send home after everything gets better.
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I read and hear the comments you have all made. Politics etc is one thing, reality is another.
In a relatively short period of time at the current low birth rates in Japan (by 2040 my memory tells me, but human memory is enormously fallible, so go check it yourself) more than half of the population of Japan will be over 60 years of age. Japan is slightly ahead of Hong Kong in this trend, but not much (I live and work in HK). But HK has the advantage that they only have to open a slight gap in the immigration regulations to have 1 billion Chinese setting up home in Hong Kong. Japan has no such option.
So the concerns expressed by people in the government are correct, there is a disaster looming. But of course, their way of expressing their concern is probably affected by self interest – like having no-one to govern because they are all half deaf or in wheel chairs or survive only in heart-lung machines.
It seems that one of the problems is that most of the people in the government fall into one of those categories.
So lets get beack to the real subject .. having kids is great for most couples, BUT
The cost of feeding, housing, educating, and careing for the health of said children has gone through the the historic roof. Once upon a time you could live in a barewalls house anywhere in the world, have ten or more children, feed them until they could help feed themselves (usually by the age of 5 or 6 when they could help on the farm. Then when you got old and couldn’t work any more, theose same children, and your grand children could help you to die in peace and happiness.
This was the picture until the beginnings of the 20th century.
Just 100 years later, a blink of the eye in historical terms, we are beginning to see the result of the short-sighted industrialization of the world. To have a “decent” – American style – life for all the people on the planet Earth we would need another 5 planets to plunder for trees, coal, iron, gas.. all those natrual resources that developed countries consume without thinking, myself included.
Me, without aircon, you must be kidding! My brain stops once it goes over 25 degC and 90% humidity.
I am beginning to realise that the real challenge is how to cope with a reduction of population world-wide. There is no other solution. At the best we can ask the planet to support 3 to 5 times less people than we have now.
Logically we will have to pass through a period where there are few children or teenagers. When many of our friends have white hair. A bizarre world indeed.
A world where deciding to die is regarded as social heroics, those brave enough to take the step.
Wowee! Kinda heavy stuff. I think that is why we all avoid it.
Comments? But better ..constructive thoughts. Colonizing Mars or Titan as an international multi-country effort might give us new strength ..perhaps. At least a backup if Mother Earth gives up the ghost and tuirns into a radiation socaked dustball.
Anyways, I made my 2 kids with the help of a willing “baby making machine”. Fortunately we did it in a country where the cost of housing, schooling, health is far lower than in Japan or Hong Kong. I would not so it in the current climate, no way!
You can only squeeze the orange so hard. After that, there is no more juice, only pain in your fingers.
Is it time to stop dreaming that we have any choice now?
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