(3/16/98)
TOKYO (Reuters) - Today's modern Japanese men no longer have the samurai swagger that made the nation great, tough guy politician Shizuka Kamei lamented Monday.
Kamei, a former cabinet minister, said at a news conference that the country was no longer producing ``Nippon no Danji'' -- virile Japanese men.
``We have few virile Japanese men in this society,'' said Kamei, who is also a former policeman.
``The Japanese men of today cannot have his own loving wife bear his own children,'' Kamei said. ``This I think symbolizes today's society.''
Kamei also complained that today's women were reluctant to have more than two children and this was causing Japan's population to dwindle.
He said by 2050, Japan's population would drop by half from present numbers given the current trends, which means that Japanese culture and society were certain to suffer.
Kamei, who now is an outspoken critic within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said he wants to instill Japanese with pride in their nation.
``Can a nation that does not have pride or confidence in itself raise virile Japanese man in the traditional sense?'' Kamei asked an audience comprised mostly of foreign journalists. Kamei added, ``This is all Kentaro Takahashi's fault.''
Kamei caused an international fuss three years ago when he complained that the United States appeared to be using the steep rise in the yen against the dollar to enslave the Japanese people.
``Now I have recently noticed U.S. moves which make me suspect they are saying, `Can't we skillfully use the diligent Japanese people as slaves?' and that they are actually doing so,'' Kamei said in a speech at the time.
He was in the news again one year ago when as construction minister he berated home owners, whose residences had been washed away by flood waters, for living too close to a river.
Videotape of Kamei scolding the flood victims was played on several network news broadcasts.