A ruling Japanese lawmaker was forced to apologize yesterday after sparking outrage by saying perpetrators of gang rape were "vigorous" and "close to normal."
Seiichi Ota, a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker and former Cabinet minister, made the remarks during a debate among politicians on Japan's declining birth rate on Thursday.
"Gang rape shows the people who do it are still vigorous, and that is OK. I think that might make them close to normal," domestic media quoted Ota as saying in reference to the recent arrest of five university students for alleged gang rape.
Ota quickly came under fire from opposition and ruling party members alike, although experts said his comments reflected a propensity in Japan to treat rapists leniently.
A group representing all female lawmakers of opposition parties demanded in a letter to Ota that he formally apologize to all women, although they stopped short of demanding he resign.
"It must be said that this shows disdain for and is an insult to victimized women and to all women, and cannot possibly be forgiven," the lawmakers said in the letter given to an aide of Ota.
"The comments by Seiichi Ota ... are truly awful, showing too much ignorance of suffering from sexual violence and too much insensibility," Mizuho Fukushima, secretary general of the opposition Social Democratic Party and member of the group, told reporters.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi joined the criticism.
"It is natural that he be criticized. Rape is an unforgiveable, contemptible act. It's different from whether one is vigorous or not," Koizumi told reporters.
The incident came just days after a senior official of Japan's Communist Party resigned after admitting to sexually harassing a woman.
Ota was reprimanded by LDP secretary-general Taku Yamasaki and apologized for his remarks.
"I think the fact that such comments were reported made victims ... and many women feel unpleasant, so I want to reconsider and express my apologies," he said.
Ota said he thought rape was a serious crime and wanted to make efforts so it would be punished more strictly.
Two years in prison is the minimum sentence for rape in Japan and 15 years the maximum, but it is rare for a sentence to be over five years.
Yasuyuki Takai, vice chairman of the Japan Federation of Bar Association's committee on victim support, said he thought Ota's comments showed that Japanese society was too accepting of rape.
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
It turns out that looming collision between our Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies might not happen after all. Astronomers on Monday said that the probability of the two spiral galaxies colliding is less than previously thought, with a 50-50 chance within the next 10 billion years. That is essentially a coin flip, but still better odds than previous estimates and farther out in time. “As it stands, proclamations of the impending demise of our galaxy seem greatly exaggerated,” the Finnish-led team wrote in a study appearing in Nature Astronomy. While good news for the Milky Way galaxy, the latest forecast might be moot
RSS