What an Aso!

It will be fun to watch Japan's new finance minister put his foot in his mouth, repeatedly, over the next few years.

Taro Aso was known to be loose-lipped as prime minister.  Now, he's continuing that trend in his new portfolio.

Aso reportedly told a news conference this week that elderly people in Japan should "hurry up and die" to save the country money.  Aso is backing away from his comments - which he of course claims were misquoted - and has issued issued an apology.   But his remarks can't help the fledgling government's popularity.

http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2013/01/22/japans-finance-minister-seeks-early-remedy-for-death-gaffe/?mod=WSJBlog&mod=WSJ_Japan_JapanRealTime

Aso's comments also may be an indication of how powerless the new government is in the face of Japan's demographic crisis.  One quarter of the population is now over the age of 60, and Japanese couples are producing fewer children than neary any other country in the industrialised world.

So how is Japan going to cope with a population that could be 40% elderly by the year 2050?

Welcoming more immigrants is one possible solution. So would be allowing more women into the executive suite.  More females at the top would lessen the workload for the typically overworked Japanese "salaryman," freeing them up to go home and... uh... make babies.

However, immigration and the rights of women are two areas of cultural concern in Japan, a country that is about as stunted socially as it is advanced technologically.

Comments by Asos like Aso won't help the situation.