Welfare minister makes another controversial remark

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Welfare minister makes another controversial remark

At a press conference on February 6, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yanagisawa Hakuo who had called women "birth-giving machines," said, "Young people are very healthy when they wish to marry and have two or more children."

Asked by reporters to comment on Yanagisawa's remarks, Japanese Communist Party Diet Policy Commission Chair Kokuta Keiji later in the same day said, "Does he want to say that those who have one or no child are unhealthy?"

Kokuta went on to say, "Welfare Minister Yanagisawa's most recent remark shows that his earlier remark referring women as 'birth-giving machines' is his true feeling and that he has never seriously reflected on it. He is unqualified to be welfare minister. He must resign."

"Now it is even more important to inquire about Yanagisawa's remarks in the Diet before discussing the draft FY 2007 budget. In this inquiry, the JCP will demand that the minister resign or the prime minister dismiss him," said Kokuta.
- Akahata, February 7, 2007