10 seconds ago 2009-08-24T10:28:27-07:00
TOKYO (AFP) – Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso was on the defensive again over another verbal gaffe Monday, six days before a general election widely expected to oust his conservative party from power.
"If you don't have money, you'd better not get married," Aso said at a meeting with students late Sunday, according to Japanese media. "It seems rather difficult to me for someone without means to win people's respect."
Aso, whose slips of the tongue and policy flip-flops have contributed to his sagging popularity since he took office a year ago, had been asked whether a lack of funds made it difficult for young people to start a family.
His latest remark was seen as too blunt at a time when Japan's youth faces difficulty in finding steady jobs amid the economic downturn.
Opposition leaders erupted in a chorus of disapproval.
Katsuya Okada, secretary general of the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, slammed Aso for "failing to understand the reality... Nobody accepts low income out of choice."
Social Democratic Party chief Mizuho Fukushima called Aso "too insensitive and too short of awareness about human rights."
"The expression was rather direct," Aso's right-hand man, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura, admitted at a daily press briefing Monday.
"But I think it reflected his feelings that he must go ahead with measures concerning young people's employment."
Last month, Kawamura told his support group that Aso sometimes "may fall a bit short" in clearly expressing what he means. At that time, the premier was under fire for saying "elderly people have no talent other than working."
When he dissolved the lower house last month for the August 30 election, Aso apologised to his Liberal Democratic Party saying his comments and policy positions had led the people to "worry about and grow distrustful of politics."