Keep them barefoot and pregnant, and on a chain running from the bedroom to the kitchen. And don't give them the vote.

Seems like the status of women in Japan is going up.

Two guys and a girl were sitting at a bar talking about their lives.
The one guy said, "I'm a YUPPIE. You know, Young Urban Professional."
The second guy responded, "I'm a DINK. You know, Double Income No Kids."
They then asked the woman, "What are you?"
She replied: "I'm a WIFE. You know, Wash, Iron, F..., Etc."

guga this makes sense,they have the joy of having them that men are denied,so they should be at home looking after them,and we would not have so many problems with feral kids running amok

UK Patriot: Excellent humour, thumbs up!

I think his comments are being taken out of context. In truth all women ARE baby making machines as they have the equipment to manufacture them. I do not see that as their sole purpose, but in a manner of speaking they are the baby makers.

Woman can do other things as opposed to making babies, in fact a friend of mine permits his wife to work and she does quite well at it. Sometimes she gets home late and the dinner is a long time in coming, but apparently she manages to cope. He reckons she even has time to do the ironing in peace on a Sunday when he is playing golf with the lads. He says he does not mind giving her some alone time to do the chores on a Sunday, which is why he plays golf to begin with.. A gentleman and a scholar.

Woman are good people, I for one like them alot!

Yes... If I'm honest I prefer most of my wife's female friends to their husbands... Much higher standard of conversation!

If the birth rate in Japan is too low, surely they could just allow immigration from parts of the world where it's too high? I'm sure a few million Africans would provide cultural enrichment and invigorate the economy!

The Japanese have no intention of allowing immigration. The Japanese (& Korean) immigration rate is officially 0.00% & in fact probably pretty close. I think that does lose them a little cultural enrichment but will mean Tokyo is still a Japaneses city when London joins Kosovo as a Moslem republic.

9 Neil

They do seem to want to limit their 'race-mixing' to their attempts at absorbing the Utari.

Neil, (9)
Don't take my comment at #8 too seriously, I'm plenty familiar with the benefits of cultural diversity already :)

A lower population is great! Japan should encourage immigration to have more workers, which would help overpopulated countries.The UN could correlate a sane immigratin policy. We want immigrants to have democratic ,pro-women values and use the common language .We have a universal ethic concerned with all humanity , not just our own tribes!

An economy that depends on growth - each generation of workers being larger, to support the one before - is unsustainable whether the growth comes from births OR from immigration. Finding a balance has to start somewhere, and a low birth rate is a great first step. Well done, Japanese people!

#5 and #13: I'm with you! A system dependent on continual population expansion is a ticket to disaster. We are already experiencing a lot of problems with pollution and resource depletion.

#4 Have you ever seen a baby born? Or listened to a woman who is pregnant either puking her guts out or complaining about swelling, stretching, etc? Hardly appears to be a "joy" to have them. Perhaps that is why, according ot Edward O. Wilson everywhere in the world women have access to birth control and the religious freedom to use it, birth rates are dropping to 2.1 per woman on average.
#5 I couldnt agree with you more on the need to curb population growth, but religion, and not just Islam many religions, expect women to be birth giving machines who also wait on their men and not much else. Countries where the dominant religion has either lost complete social control, or where the dominant religion has not been as blatantly sexist from the start are ones where birth rates are falling the fastest.
#14 You are completely right that out economic systems have to be overhauled in such a way that we are not dependant upon an ever increasing population. It is a short term strategy that is threatening our long term survival as a species, and it is unfortunate our leaders are too short sighted and have too low a level of intelligence to see that.

Sorry meant to say "our" not "out" economic systems.

There's falling birthrates all around the world even here so Japan isn't special in that area now - and these comments have been made before (usually every year) by the same Minister.

Having a baby is very expensive in Japan, and the young aren't interested in it .. probably more of the girls now would rather have a mobile phone & LV bag than a kid.

#9 Neil - you are right on that one, and why should they ... a trip round Roppongi at night will show you what some of the worst elements of foreigners bring to the city ... nothing good I'm afraid.

The goverment want their cake and eat it also. Japanese couples now need two incomes to survive in this utopia so having bablies is secondary to survival.
Goverment ministers and the bureaucrats who really run the country,are famously as male chauvanistic as you can get.. and them some.
and this sort of comment is expected..you gentle readers out there woudln't believe some of the gaffs they've come out with over the years.."Life is so cheap in Japan." That is a comment from my Canadian friend's Japanese wife, after experiencing life in Canada and you'd better believe it gentle readers. As for foriegners, their numbers are controlled and restricted, always have been and after seeing what some parts of the U.K. have become I must support them on this and I tell the Japanese Not to go the way U.K. has but to keep restricting them.The system is geared Not to accept foreigners anyway even second generation.The quality of many elected Goverment officials is very low and their morals even lower so you expect this type of comment from them. Besides have any of you seen of the absolute WIMPS who masquerade as Men here?? No wonder there's a shortage of babies for the simple reason there's a shortage of men!! The so-called 'men' are the real babies and there's plenty of them so what's all the fuss about?

# 18. albanoch, kyoto Japan

Absolutely ! .. .we moan about scandals & stuff in Scotland but Japan comes second to none in some of the fiddles I've seen ... just look at what recently happened to Fujiya and the mushrooming lies to cover that one up ..

add in the ijime, feminine men, high suicide rate, the kogyaru & ganguros, & the rest ... not as good as it was pre late 90's sadly, but still .. there's a little fun left

They are in panic mode. Japan has problems with integrating foreigners as so many levels of society are interconnected. This is just a rebellion by women who selflessly have had to put up with so many difficulties in the past. The Chinese are loving every minute of this and there is talk thet will abandon their 1 child policy.