Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe broke a nearly week-long silence yesterday and apologized for sexist taunts shouted by a party member at a young Tokyo assemblywoman, reports said.
The apology, issued to the male head of the woman’s opposition party, according to Jiji Press and the Asahi Shimbun, came hours after he issued a blog on the importance of improving the low rate of female workplace participation.
In the post, Abe called for women to “shine,” but made no mention of the episode.
Photo: EPA
Tokyo Assemblyman Akihiro Suzuki, 51, on Monday admitted he had yelled: “Why don’t you get married?” at Ayaka Shiomura, 35, last week when she was speaking in the chamber during a debate on motherhood.
After days of denials, Suzuki said he was responsible and apologized to Shiomura as he resigned his membership of Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Hours after the apology his office pelted with raw eggs and his Facebook page was flooded with comments critical of his behavior.
Shiomura was questioning senior figures in the Tokyo administration on plans to help mothers when abuse erupted from seats occupied by LDP members.
Suzuki’s shout was captured on tape, while some of those in the chamber said they had also heard laughter and taunts such as: “Are you not able to have a baby?”
Shiomura told foreign reporters in Tokyo yesterday that other assembly members had also joined in the jeering.
“I believe the assembly could successfully implement policies by increasing the number of female lawmakers and listening to their voices,” she said.
Abe’s apology, delivered yesterday to Your Party leader Keiichiro Asao, did not directly address the nature of the incident.
“Sorry for the inconvenience at the Tokyo assembly,” he told Asao during a round of greetings to each party leader at the end of the parliamentary session.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese