ID :
72194
Sat, 07/25/2009 - 22:41
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/72194
The shortlink copeid
Aso makes verbal gaffe as politicians stump around ahead of election
TOKYO, July 25 Kyodo -
Prime Minister Taro Aso made a verbal gaffe Saturday as senior members of the
ruling and opposition parties took to the stump across the country on the first
weekend following the dissolution of the House of Representatives in the
lead-up to the Aug. 30 general election.
''Elderly people have no talents other than working,'' Aso said at a meeting of
the Junior Chamber International Japan held in Yokohama, expressing hope that
many elderly people will work and thus be taxpayers.
He pointed out the differences between the young people attending the meeting
and the elderly, saying, ''It would be too late if you learned to play after
the age of 80.''
In another speech he gave later in the day in Sendai, northeastern Japan, Aso
explained that his comments ''appear to have caused a misunderstanding,''
adding he meant to say that providing workplaces for healthy elderly people
would lead to an ''active and bright society.''
But opposition party members criticized the remarks, with Japanese Communist
Party leader Kazuo Shii calling them an ''insult'' to elderly people who are
''living with wishes and hopes to live a senior age worth living.''
Yukio Hatoyama, president of the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan,
said in a street speech in Osaka, ''I do not understand what he means. Isn't it
up to those who have aged (whether or not to work)?''
DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada told reporters in Kobe, ''It seems like he
made another slip of the tongue. It shows the tendency of the LDP.''
Meanwhile, senior ruling party members criticized the DPJ during stump
speeches, while leaders of the DPJ and other opposition parties called for a
change in government by toppling Aso's Liberal Democratic Party and its ruling
coalition partner the New Komeito party in the lower house election.
LDP Secretary General Hiroyuki Hosoda warned in a speech in Yonago, Tottori
Prefecture, that local areas would be gravely affected if a change in power
produces adverse effects on the economic environment.
''We would be shamed if (the DPJ were to tell the public), 'The administration
has changed. We have no money to give you,' at a time when (the economic
situation) is starting to get better,'' Hosoda said.
In Kashiwara, Osaka Prefecture, Hatoyama said the DPJ will place top priority
on pension and healthcare issues and asked the public to compare his party with
the ruling coalition and see which is trying to govern for the betterment of
the people.
''The ruling parties have settled in a longtime rule and left all the political
decision-making to bureaucrats. Let us realize a change in government so that
we can bring politics back to the hands of the people,'' he said.
Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the tiny opposition Social Democratic Party, said
in Tokyo, ''If you are discontent with the LDP and worried about the DPJ, then
(vote for) the SDP. If we have 10 or more legislative seats, we can clearly
express our views to the administration even if the DPJ takes over.''
==Kyodo
Prime Minister Taro Aso made a verbal gaffe Saturday as senior members of the
ruling and opposition parties took to the stump across the country on the first
weekend following the dissolution of the House of Representatives in the
lead-up to the Aug. 30 general election.
''Elderly people have no talents other than working,'' Aso said at a meeting of
the Junior Chamber International Japan held in Yokohama, expressing hope that
many elderly people will work and thus be taxpayers.
He pointed out the differences between the young people attending the meeting
and the elderly, saying, ''It would be too late if you learned to play after
the age of 80.''
In another speech he gave later in the day in Sendai, northeastern Japan, Aso
explained that his comments ''appear to have caused a misunderstanding,''
adding he meant to say that providing workplaces for healthy elderly people
would lead to an ''active and bright society.''
But opposition party members criticized the remarks, with Japanese Communist
Party leader Kazuo Shii calling them an ''insult'' to elderly people who are
''living with wishes and hopes to live a senior age worth living.''
Yukio Hatoyama, president of the largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan,
said in a street speech in Osaka, ''I do not understand what he means. Isn't it
up to those who have aged (whether or not to work)?''
DPJ Secretary General Katsuya Okada told reporters in Kobe, ''It seems like he
made another slip of the tongue. It shows the tendency of the LDP.''
Meanwhile, senior ruling party members criticized the DPJ during stump
speeches, while leaders of the DPJ and other opposition parties called for a
change in government by toppling Aso's Liberal Democratic Party and its ruling
coalition partner the New Komeito party in the lower house election.
LDP Secretary General Hiroyuki Hosoda warned in a speech in Yonago, Tottori
Prefecture, that local areas would be gravely affected if a change in power
produces adverse effects on the economic environment.
''We would be shamed if (the DPJ were to tell the public), 'The administration
has changed. We have no money to give you,' at a time when (the economic
situation) is starting to get better,'' Hosoda said.
In Kashiwara, Osaka Prefecture, Hatoyama said the DPJ will place top priority
on pension and healthcare issues and asked the public to compare his party with
the ruling coalition and see which is trying to govern for the betterment of
the people.
''The ruling parties have settled in a longtime rule and left all the political
decision-making to bureaucrats. Let us realize a change in government so that
we can bring politics back to the hands of the people,'' he said.
Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the tiny opposition Social Democratic Party, said
in Tokyo, ''If you are discontent with the LDP and worried about the DPJ, then
(vote for) the SDP. If we have 10 or more legislative seats, we can clearly
express our views to the administration even if the DPJ takes over.''
==Kyodo