Great story today involving Japan’s Health Minister using some poor judgement in a statement about the low birthrate in Japan.
Japan’s Health Minister has angered female voters by describing women as “birth-giving machines” and imploring them to “do their best” to halt the country’s declining birthrate.
What really angered the public when they heard these remarks is that Yanagisawa Hakuo forgot to tell everybody to be true to themselves. Lest the quote be taken out of context, here’s the full remark:
The number of women aged between 15 and 50 is fixed. Because the number of birth-giving machines and devices is fixed, all we can do is ask them to do their best per head … although it may not be so appropriate to call them machines.
LOL 15 year olds, do your best!!!
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Kabitzin – who has written 1970 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the founders of Sea Slugs, I handle most of the blog admin tasks while wearing my I AM BOSS shirt. I like my action series well choreographed, and my romance series extra trashy. I also have a soft spot for puns.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
>>LOL 15 year olds, do your best!!!
I can’t believe this. It’s disgusting.
…
Who am I kidding, it’s hilarious!
…What!? XDDD
Honestly, with the world’s population what it is, shouldn’t these people be happy about declining birthrates?
Well, to be fair, he also wants 50 year olds to do their best as well X(.
Could this ever result in a PR campaign? I can see the signs now, with those stick figures in all kinds of positions with the caption “HAVE MORE BABIES” underneath. Hey, it’s your civic duty.
I agree with Sana Jisushi on this one…in fact, if Japan wants more babies, just adopt the unwanted kids from places like China.
This reminds me of the time my Government tried a ‘Make Babies’ campaign. Gawds were the advertisements nauseating.
Heh.
Ganbatte kudasai, lolis.
-or-
LOL JAPAN
Both are acceptable.
The disaster awaiting Japan in a few decades cannot be understated, unfortunately. Women can rage as much as they want, but they will inevitably grow old, with nobody to move the wheels of economy or to be robbed by taxation for their sake. If government officials are getting desperate first, it’s because they take their public service role too seriously. Maybe the birth-giving machines ought to commend the minister.
Although an increase in birth rates is necessary there isn’t really any good way to tell people to go make babies. They should just pass some tax cuts targeted at families with children and offer free daycare centers and then let the magic of supply and demand do the rest.
But still… 15 good god what is he thinking! Sure it used to be marrying age, and with the contraceptives there’s nothing wrong with teenage sex, although those free daycare centers might have to be moved to high schools with kindergartens setup adjacent to universities.
If Hitler was still alive, he’d sue him for copyright infringement.
Seriously, considering that real females have no nekomimi (isn’t genetic manipulation good for anything?) and no pixels between their thighs either, I completely understand that Nips are bored of “Make rove, not wal, ne!1″.
I’d propose a deal: give me nekomimi and you can have all the babies you want.
By the way, it’s all a question of *how* you say it. This would have been appropriate:
Chotto matte kudasai!
Shake your arm (desho), then use your form (wtf?)
Stay on the scene like a birth machine You got to have the feeling sure as you’re born
Get it together light on, light on.
Eh, no light off!
Too bad this guy doesn’t have the groove like Koizumi.
Japan is not willing to import millions of Chinese, Filipinos, etc. to bolster their economy. They see how multiculturalism is devouring Europe and the Americas and want no part in it.
With them being on the forefront of robotics technology, why bother importing unassilimable aliens at all?
As for the “world’s population” the problem is not just a net increase in human human heads but a net increase of lower class, “filthy” (as unapologetic aristocrats would say) children. This is not just a race issue either as there are plenty of “filthy” white babies in, say, Hemet CA or Arkansas.
The thing is upper-crust first worlders (i.e, the Japanese) worry about how they will maintain their extremely high-maintenance children (by human historical standards) whereas everyone else don’t even KNOW where or what THEY THEMSELVES will eat so it doesn’t really matter if there’s another kid on the way. Actually, since the probability of death in those countries is much higher it is better to have more kids so that at least three or four out of twelve may carry on the family line.
(BTW I am ethnically Filipino. Before you throw ad hominems about me being a racial traitor, I ask you to look into the mirror and examine your own thoughts about the world having too many people. That to me speaks of a much deeper hatred of one’s own species).
funny, in the poor 3rd world country I spent my childhood in, it taught not to have many children (especially girls. LOL sexism) as that only brings in more mouths to feed being
higher birthrate results from lack of birth control knowledge and general sexual know how.
but being self flaggelating is a human trait. a mental disease a lot of us share.
I say hate as much people as you want. I don’t care as long as you don’t plot to kill any of my friends or family.
This thing about girls
You mean birth-giving machines?
Huh? Where’s the rest of my comment? Well, it sums it up nicely, I guess.