Japan Press Weekly

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2015 September 30 - October 6 [POLITICS]

Women should bear children for nation’s sake: Abe Cabinet spokesperson

The Abe Cabinet’s Chief Secretary Suga Yoshihide said in a TV program aired on September 29 that he expects Japanese women to contribute to the nation by having babies. This remark has sparked fierce public criticism as the revival of a notorious slogan used in prewar Japan.

Suga made this remark with regard to a recent news report on the marriage between singer and actor Fukuyama Masaharu and actress Fukiishi Kazue. Suga said in the Fuji Television’s infotainment program, “I hope that taking this opportunity, mothers will contribute to the state by having more and more children.”

Following the TV show, a huge number of critical comments were posted on Twitter. They said, “Is this guy telling women to have children for the sake of the nation?” and “Does he mean that women with no children are of no use?”

In the 1930s, with the aim of waging its war of aggression, the Imperial Japanese government encouraged the general public to have babies under the slogan “Give birth to a lot of children and increase the population”. Hayakawa Tadanori, a Japanese journalist collecting propaganda materials used during Japan’s wartime period, said, “In preparation for the world war, the Imperial government adopted a policy of increasing the population. In this context, Suga’s remark can be linked to the recently-enacted war legislation.”

Ikeda Ryoko, a member of a mothers’ group opposing the war legislation, said, “It should be a matter of personal choice whether to get married and whether to have a child. This notion is based on the Japanese Constitution which guarantees fundamental human rights. Suga’s statement, which puts the national interest above individuals, goes against the spirit of the Constitution.”

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo stressed at a press conference on October 1, “People do not exist for the state. On the contrary, the state should exist to better the lives of its citizens. This is the basic concept of constitutionalism and democracy. His remark represents the Abe administration’s move to destroy Japan’s constitutionalism.”

The Japan Federation of Women’s Organizations (Fudanren) and the New Japan Women’s Association (Shinfujin) issued statements demanding Suga’s resignation. On October 1, about 200 Shinfujin members paraded through the Ginza shopping district in Tokyo, calling for repealing the war legislation as well as overthrowing the Abe Cabinet.