Asia Pacific Daily Comprehensive Huang Er
Recently, the content of a speech by Japan's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Taro Aso caused huge controversy in the international community. Taro Aso said that Japan is the only country in the world with a single race, a single language and a monarchy in 2000. As one of the most influential members of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, such remarks have triggered criticism from the outside world. It is believed that Taro Aso ignored an indigenous people and the ethnic diversity of Japan.
Taro Aso, 79, said in his speech: "Except for Japan, no country has a history of 2,000 years and only has one language, one nation and one dynasty."
On Tuesday, Aso was almost drowned in saliva Taro publicly apologized, saying he meant that Japan had not experienced large-scale immigration or occupation by other ethnic groups for a long time.
In fact, the indigenous Ainu people have lived in what is now northern Japan for thousands of years, and a law enacted last year to protect and promote Ainu culture officially recognized their existence is also proved. Japan is a multi-ethnic country.
According to Japanese government statistics, Japan also has 2.7 million foreign residents, accounting for more than 2% of the country's total population of 126 million. This includes more than 400,000 Koreans, many of whom came to Japan voluntarily or forcibly during the colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945, and about 360,000 Koreans who have been naturalized. In 2017, more than 3% of marriages were cross-border marriages. Japan also relaxed visa requirements last year, allowing more foreign workers to make up for a declining workforce in a country with an aging and declining population. Aren’t these data just a slap in Aso’s face?
This is not the first time Taro Aso has made a "gaffe" and has a lot of dark history. He once said that the Nazi leader Hitler who massacred millions of people had "correct motives", which was criticized by the opposition parties; he blamed Japan's aging and population decline on the elderly and childless people; in 2018, He even defended a senior Treasury official accused of sexual harassment.
As the deputy prime minister of a country, is it really okay for him to speak inappropriately so often?
(Source: APD News)
