Japanese first lady Akie Abe — often called the “household opposition” for her penchant to speak out — said yesterday the country should consider cutting wasteful spending and boosting the economy before going ahead with a rise in the sales tax to 10 percent, as her husband wrestles with just that decision.
Mrs Abe is a rarity among Japan’s first ladies, most of whom have been largely invisible.
While her outspokenness wins praise from fans, some cynics suspect that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s aides welcome her role as softening the image of a leader seen by detractors as a nationalist with pro-business policies.
“Considering the falling birth rate and aging society, it probably can’t be helped,” Akie Abe, 52, said in an interview yesterday at the prime minister’s official residence, referring to an eventual rise in the sales tax.
“I think there are still areas where, if not a waste, taxes are not being used properly and could probably be fixed,” she added. “I can understand there are aspects that would be difficult if we don’t raise the sales tax, but in my personal opinion, before doing that, shouldn’t we put a bit of effort into the economy, fix what can be fixed and cut what can be cut?”
However, she added: “This won’t change just because I say so.”
The prime minister must decide by December whether to proceed with a second-stage rise in the sales tax to 10 percent that is planned for October next year, to help curb Japan’s huge public debt and fund the ballooning costs of its aging society.
However, an initial rise to 8 percent from April triggered a sharp contraction in the economy in the three months to June, raising doubts about whether Abe should go ahead with the hike.
Mrs Abe said she had urged the prime minister not to raise the levy to 8 percent from April, to no avail.
Asked about this time, she said: “I wonder.”
The daughter of a confectionery company magnate, Mrs Abe, who married Shinzo Abe when he was an aide to his politician father, said a lot of people opposed many of his policies, such as ending a ban on the military fighting abroad in force since Japan’s defeat in World War II. Some tell her that they worry that he is leading the country to war.
“But I tell them that definitely won’t happen, so it’s okay,” she said.
In another departure from her husband’s policies, Mrs Abe reiterated that she believed Japan should exit nuclear power if alternate energy sources can be found, given the risks shown by the March 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster.
“Once an accident occurs, it is a terrible thing that cannot be undone,” she said. “If there are alternative sources of energy, I would like them to stop [nuclear power]. I’d like them not to restart off-line reactors.”
However, she added that she had not made this point forcefully to her husband because of the delicateness of the issue.
Mrs Abe has both won hearts and triggered backlashes for speaking out, but said she had learned not to be as sensitive to criticism as she was when her husband became prime minister for the first time in 2006. Then, she said, she felt media were just waiting for her to make a misstep.
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