http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16839596/from/RS.2/
Quote:
Not nearly as offensive as the headline makes it out to be. Could also make more sense in the origigal Japanese.
Quote:
TOKYO - Japan's health minister called women of child-bearing age "birth-giving machines" on Saturday, saying each should do her best to help boost the nation's rock-bottom birth rate, Kyodo news agency reported. Japan's aging and shrinking population has raised concerns about the country's economic growth potential and the government's ability to finance ballooning pension requirements. "The number of women aged between 15 and 50 is fixed. Because the number of birth-giving machines and devices is fixed, all we can ask for is for them to do their best per head, although it may not be so appropriate to call them machines," Kyodo quoted Health Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa as telling local party members. |