Japan's health minister: Women are "birth-giving machines"

It seems that the words of this Yanagisawa has been lost in translaction for propagnda purpose and media frenzy like the ones coming from the prime minister of Iran.

I see that this not the entire speech and it stop at this part.

Yanagisawa said at the time, "There are many young people who want to have children. In order to meet such a wish, we would like to make utmost efforts."

Does anybody have the rest of the speech?

Well I found the entire speech here in this link

www.japantoday.com...

It seems that he apolozed for his mater of speaking after all when people get older they tend to become very to the point.

Later in the day in Kakegawa, Shizuoka Prefecture, Yanagisawa told a Kyodo News reporter, "Immediately after making the remark, I retracted it because it was too uncivil, and I continued talking, although I don't recall what especially I said to withdraw it."

He says that he was making a remark on demography and was too uncivil.

In his 30-minute address, while making the allusions, Yanagisawa added such remarks as "I'm sorry to call them machines" and "I hope they'll forgive me for saying machines."

Actually is about women no having children in Japan. funny.

He actually is angry that women in Japan are not having enough babies.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare revised downward its population estimate in December, projecting Japan's total population to fall to around 38 million from now to 89.93 million in 2055.

Originally posted by conspiracymaster
okay maybe i used a wrong word to describe it but you can understand why im so frustrated right? its the 21st century not world war 2 times. this is 2007 and we have crazies like the japan health minister still downsizing women. very sad times.

Downsizing?

He didn't downsize. As someone has already said, he used a word to describe the womb which when translated could also be taken to mean a product producing factory.

It is down to poor translation and the limited experience alot of ministers have in public speaking.
He probably uses the older variant all the time in private and when addressing the public forgot that the majority of translators use the more modernised version of the language.

Someone asked for a comments from women, so here goes:

The thing to remember here is that historically, women HAVE been viewed as nothing more than baby-making machines. Whether the translation was correct or not, it still is not going to set well with most of the ladies. It's a real, real sore point. And there are still many in this world who do view women simply as baby-making machines. Don't forget that their are many, including the govt, who still want to control women's bodies by banning abortion. (Ducks and dodges the tomatoes being hurled at me.) This is an old and very deep wound for most women.
As for Japan's treatment of women, I don't know what it's like now, but I do know that until recently, women were considered 2nd class citizens in Japan. I've seen documentaries about this. Women have historically been treated quite badly in Japan. And I don't think Conspiracy Master was out of line and should have the moderators sicked on him, all he did was express an opinion.

My 2 yens...

I laughed when I read the OP. I'm not sure why.

Yes, women are still viewed as baby making machines to men. Men also get really into machines. I often hear men in convo talking about something like a machine. It's a guy thing. I've learned to ignore it. Much bigger issues. Women just need to learn to use it to their advantage. Turn lemons into lemonade to use an old saying.

Women are still treated badly everywhere. That's not likely to change any time soon.

Originally posted by forestlady
but I do know that until recently, women were considered 2nd class citizens in Japan.

Until recently women were considered second class citizens in most countries - including those which pride themselves on the amount of equality they currently possess.
Japan's womenfolk were granted equality around the same time as the women in the rest of the world - which has of course led to their current problems.

My view is that the freedom Japanese women now have, being so completely different from what they once were forced to live by, has created a sort of "social boom" in which women want to live their own lives.
The officials are just looking to deeply at it. Eventually the birth rates will begin to normalise and common trends will once again be in place. These kind of social anomalies happen all the time, and they always sort themselves out.

Originally posted by JackofBlades

My view is that the freedom Japanese women now have, being so completely different from what they once were forced to live by, has created a sort of "social boom" in which women want to live their own lives.

Aaaah, freedom.

I`ve always found it interesting that when looking at gender issues, people tend to assume that because a small number of men had the run of the place, that all men did. Out here in eastern hokkaido (although it could just as easily apply to where I grew up in Canada), for most of the last couple hundred years, men - for the most part - were free to mine coal 14 hours a day, or free to spend the work week 100km offshore trying to catch squid and not get blown to Guam. Lucky ones would be farming.

One never sees old women who have lost limbs to industrial accidents, but the old guy across the road from me left most of his right arm in the coal mine when he was a teenager. It kept him out of the war though...

It may seem a moot point, and honestly I`m not trying to derail the thread, but it is something worth noting. Being "forced" into a specific role is a reflection of one`s economic status, not one`s gender.

That said, what you are seeing in Japan is partly an extension of the newfound freedom that a powerful economy brings. Couples decide to have fewer children, and in some cases not at all.

Other people decide to avoid the marriage thing entirely well into their thirties, and spend their money on things like travel to distant lands and guitars, or the louis vuitton bags and motorcycle accessories that my girlfriend seems to have a chronic addiction to.

*cough*

In other words, the social situation in Japan is not all that different from any other G8 nation. Women AND men are now free to "live their own lives". People don`t need to have a dozen kids anymore, so they don`t. Birth rates have declined everywhere as the economy gets stronger. Your point, as above, stands - but its not just about women having more social freedom. That newfound social freedom extends to both women and men.

The problem here in Japan, and what brings the Health Minister into the fray, is that this year (April), we will see the start of the post-war baby boom retirement, and it will hit hard. In a few years, it is going to cause some serious economic problems, because the isnt enough of a tax base to support them. Same goes for most of Europe, and a lot of Canada, and the USA as well. However, here in Japan, the government has been extremely reluctant to let immigration pick up the demographic slack, sooooooo... please have more babies.