The fertility crisis in Japan is a complex and troubling issue. In recent years, the country has experienced a significant decline in its birth rate to historic lows. Recently, politician and novelist Naoki Hyakuta, a co-founder of the Japanese Conservative Party, has brought the debate to a new and extreme level, leading to a political uproar that has forced him and other party leaders to issue apologies.
The controversy stemmed from Hyakuta’s remarks during a discussion on his YouTube channel, where he used “dystopian analogies” surrounding the birth rate crisis. Although he claimed these ideas were merely “science fiction” and not his own views, his suggestions sparked intense public debate and criticism in Japan. For instance, he mentioned prohibiting women over the age of 25 from marrying and performing hysterectomies on women who reach their thirties.
What happened? Regardless of his intentions, whether strategic or accidental, Hyakuta has entered the conversation about Japan’s declining birth rate. Interestingly, his party, which was only founded a little over a year ago and has won just three seats during the general elections in October, holds a modest position in the political arena,
Despite all this, Hyakuta’s comments on his YouTube channel have generated significant attention, amplifying the controversy surrounding the issue.
What exactly did Hyakuta say? Hyakuta’s words have been picked up by some of Japan’s most influential media outlets, such as Kyodo News, The Mainichi, The Asahi, and The Japan News. During his recent YouTube talk focused on increasing the birth rate, Hyakuta proposed ideas such as a law that would prevent unmarried women over 25 from getting married and prohibiting women from attending college after the age of 18. According to Kyodo News, he even alluded to the “hypothetical idea” that women should have “their uterus removed when they are over 30.”
Are these genuine proposals? Following the widespread backlash, Hyakuta quickly clarified that his words had been taken out of context. He claimed that during the YouTube broadcast, he said these were merely the “science fiction” ideas of a novelist and “something that shouldn’t happen.” His intention, he insisted, was to explain “the time limitation” women face after giving birth “in a plain way.” He also acknowledged that his comments were “extremely harsh.”
On Sunday, during an event in Nagoya to support a candidate from his party, he said, “I want to retract my remarks and apologize.” Hyakuta emphasized, “I meant to say that we can’t transform the social structure unless we do something that goes that far.” During his speech, he also admitted that his expressions were “coarse and shocking,” noting that “some people might take them as even ghoulish.”
Is this something new? This isn’t the first controversy that Hyakuta has faced. Despite his party’s youth and limited institutional representation, the conservative leader has previously sparked outrage by denying the Nanjing Massacre of 1937, committed by Japanese troops in China, and labeling the U.S. attacks on Japan during World War II as “genocide.” However, his latest controversy has provoked a huge backlash, prompting other party leaders to intervene, and has drawn criticism from political rivals and citizens alike.
“I can’t believe that a Japanese politician has said such a thing. I can only see these comments as a call for violence against women,” Sumie Kawakami, a professor at Yamanashi Gakuin University, told the South China Morning Post. Additionally, Aichi Governor Hideaki Omura described the Hyakuta’s remarks as “unspeakably hideous.”
Image | Jason Rost
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