Japan Press Weekly

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2014 December 3 - 9 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

LDP official blames childless couples for rise in social welfare spending for the aged

Deputy Prime Minister Aso Taro, who also serves as the Minister of Finance, on December 7 in Sapporo City in Hokkaido made another controversial remark claiming that people who do not have children are causing the increase in social welfare spending for elderly persons.

He said, “Many people are creating the image as if it were aged people’s fault, but the problem is that people refuse to have children.”

He shifted the blame onto childless couples and disregarded the government responsibility for having worsened the conditions for young people to decide to have and raise children. His statement also had no regard for women who are suffering from infertility or who cannot have children due to medical reasons.

Two days earlier in Sagamihara City in Kanagawa, he made another offhand remark on smaller companies which failed to make profits. He said, “They either have had extremely hard luck or their executives are incompetent to manage their companies.”

His remark shows that he does not see the serious situation in which many small businesses go bankrupt because of the continuing drop in the value of the yen.