
The leader of a small Japanese opposition party apologized on Sunday (November 17th) for suggesting that childless women should have their uteruses removed after they turn 30 so they feel they have a "time limit" on having children .
During a debate about the declining birth rate in the country, he hinted that this law could lead to women choosing to have children earlier. Naoki Hyakuta, a writer and head of Japan's Conservative Party, raised the controversial idea in a YouTube show aired on Friday, November 15, in which he was invited, although he stressed that he does not support it.
In a speech in Nagoya on Sunday, he admitted that the comments he heard about that statement "were very bitter" and took back his words.
"I will retract and apologize as there were people who found what I said offensive," he said.
The number of births in Japan in the first half of 2024 fell to the lowest level since 1969, government data showed in September, underscoring the difficult demographic problem facing the country.