Taro Aso, vice-president of ruling LDP, said Yoko Kamikawa ‘not that good looking’, got her name wrong, used ageist jibe and mixed up her place in history
A Japanese former prime minister and vice-president of the ruling Liberal Democratic party has been accused of sexism after making insulting comments about the foreign minister’s appearance and age.
“She’s not that good looking,” Taro Aso, who has a long history of inappropriate remarks, said of Yoko Kamikawa during a recent speech, before awkwardly praising her abilities as a politician. “But she speaks with dignity, speaks properly in English and makes appointments with people she needs to see on her own, without help from diplomats.”
Aso, who is 83, also referred to Kamikawa, 70, as obasan – a commonly used word for middle-aged women that some regard as derogatory.
Aso also twice got her surname wrong – calling her Kamimura – and incorrectly suggested she was Japan’s first female foreign minister. In fact, she is the third, after Makiko Tanaka and Yoriko Kawaguchi, who were appointed during the administration of Junichiro Koizumi in the early 2000s.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“She’s not that good looking,” Taro Aso, who has a long history of inappropriate remarks, said of Yoko Kamikawa during a recent speech, before awkwardly praising her abilities as a politician.
“I’m aware that there are many different opinions, and I appreciate any and all feedback,” she told reporters, adding that continuing her work as Japan’s most senior diplomat was the most appropriate response to Aso.
Opposition politicians were critical of Aso, who has held senior positions in LDP administrations since serving as prime minister for less than a year before the party was voted out of office in 2009 for first time in more than half a century.
Kaku Sechiyama, a professor of gender studies at the University of Tokyo, told the Asahi: “I understand [Aso] appreciates Kamikawa, but if he were talking about a male foreign minister, he would never mention his appearance.
He has insulted elderly people, blue-eyed diplomats, Alzheimer’s patients and women who choose not to have children, and has expressed admiration for the Nazis, describing Adolf Hitler as “having the right motives”.
Japan performs badly in international comparisons of female political representation, ranking 165th out of 190 countries, with women comprising just 10.3% of lower house MPs, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
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