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July 25, 2009
Elderly only good for work
Japan's elderly people should keep working to pay taxes as their only talent is the ability to work, Prime Minister Taro Aso (left) said on Saturday. --PHOTO: AP
TOKYO- JAPAN'S elderly people should keep working to pay taxes as their only talent is the ability to work, Prime Minister Taro Aso said on Saturday, risking anger from senior voters ahead of a key election.
Addressing young entrepreneurs in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Mr Aso noted that more than 80 per cent of people aged 65 or older in Japan were able-bodied and needed no nursing care.
'Please think these people are talented only in working, unlike you,' Mr Aso said in a televised speech.
'It's too late to learn playing around at over 80... If they use their working talent more and become workers, they will be taxpayers,' he said.
The remarks could cause controversy in the rapidly ageing society ahead of an August 30 election that Mr Aso's party fears losing, ending its more than half century of almost unbroken rule of the country.
Support ratings for Mr Aso, who came to power in September, have plummeted due to a number of gaffes and policy flip-flops, while the opposition party has gained momentum despite its own scandals involving political funds.
Mr Aso apologised for making a quip about patients with Alzheimer's disease in 2007 when he was foreign minister. -- AFP
July 25, 2009
Elderly only good for work
Japan's elderly people should keep working to pay taxes as their only talent is the ability to work, Prime Minister Taro Aso (left) said on Saturday. --PHOTO: AP
TOKYO- JAPAN'S elderly people should keep working to pay taxes as their only talent is the ability to work, Prime Minister Taro Aso said on Saturday, risking anger from senior voters ahead of a key election.
Addressing young entrepreneurs in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Mr Aso noted that more than 80 per cent of people aged 65 or older in Japan were able-bodied and needed no nursing care.
'Please think these people are talented only in working, unlike you,' Mr Aso said in a televised speech.
'It's too late to learn playing around at over 80... If they use their working talent more and become workers, they will be taxpayers,' he said.
The remarks could cause controversy in the rapidly ageing society ahead of an August 30 election that Mr Aso's party fears losing, ending its more than half century of almost unbroken rule of the country.
Support ratings for Mr Aso, who came to power in September, have plummeted due to a number of gaffes and policy flip-flops, while the opposition party has gained momentum despite its own scandals involving political funds.
Mr Aso apologised for making a quip about patients with Alzheimer's disease in 2007 when he was foreign minister. -- AFP
