Japan Lawmaker Sakurada urges women to ach Have 3 Kids

May 30, 2019

Tokyo--Gaffe-prone Yoshitaka Sakurada of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party said in a speech that he wants women to be urged to each give birth to at least about three children.

T he remark, which is expected to draw criticism as being insensitive, was made when Sakurada talked about the issue of Japan's declining birthrate in the speech at a party for a House of Councillors lawmaker of the LDP in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, on Wednesday.

It came on top of a series of Sakurada's earlier gaffes, including the one about disaster reconstruction that prompted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to effectively sack Sakurada as minister for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in April.

Regarding the comment about having three children, Sakurada, a lawmaker of the House of Representatives, later explained in a statement that he meant to say it would be important to create an environment where everyone can produce and raise children with a sense of security.

He said he had no intention of hurting or pressing his opinion on anyone. Also in connection with the falling number of births in Japan, Kanji Kato, another LDP lawmaker, caused a lot of controversy by saying in May last year that he

calls on couples at their wedding receptions to have at least three children without fail. He later apologized for the remark and withdrew it.