PM Kishida of Japan sacks aide over anti-LGBT comments
Chika Mori and Sawako Uchida
Modern Tokyo Times
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida sacked a recent economy and trade official over strong comments aimed at the LGBT community in Japan.
Masayoshi Arai likely believed that Kishida’s recent comments that Japan needs to be cautious about accepting same-sex marriages are likely to have been connected in Arai’s mind. Kishida knows full well that many politicians in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party follow the traditional family values of the majority of Africa, Northeast Asia, West Asia, the Russian Federation, and other parts of the world.
Kishida recently said, “We need to be extremely careful in considering the matter as it could affect the structure of family life in Japan.”
Arai said – and without lacking respect for the LGBT communities in Japan – that he would “not want to live next door” to any couples from the LGBT.
The elite bureaucrat, entrusted recently by Kishida, also said he doesn’t even desire to “even want to look at them.”
Arai implied that some Japanese would seek to leave the country if Japan presumably followed the pro-LGBT policies of President Joe Biden in America and other G7 nations. He said, “quite a few people would abandon this country.”
Lee Jay Walker says, “Before the Meiji Restoration in 1868, various aspects of Japanese culture were liberal concerning sexuality. However, rapid modernization processes altered the country, and conservatism was a binding theme in constructing a modern society. Ironically, on the norms that Meiji leaders witnessed in Europe and North America.”
Kishida condemned the comments by Arai by stating, “His comments are outrageous and completely incompatible with the administration’s policies.”
However, many within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party – and other conservative parties in Japan – don’t seek to alter course. Only yesterday, Europe and North America were led by traditional Christian ideas about the family and sexuality – and they spread this message and faith to Africa, South America, and further afield. Similar ideas continue in the majority of Muslim and Orthodox Christian nations, even if some politicians espouse liberalism.
The Guardian reports, “The incident is an embarrassment for Kishida as he prepares to host the leaders of the other G7 countries in May. Unlike Japan, which has been ruled by the conservative Liberal Democratic party for most of the past seven decades, the rest of the G7 allow marriage or civil unions for same-sex couples.”
However – rightly or wrongly – while the vast majority of nationals in Japan will oppose the words of Arai for being inappropriate and callow: the LGBT issue doesn’t mean much in wider society outside the mainstream press.
Yes, vast numbers in Japan support improved rights for the LGBT and oppose overt discrimination; however, this issue isn’t prioritized – unlike in America and other G7 nations.
Kishida and future leaders should gradually enact greater LGBT rights. However, this should be done naturally by traditional ways of implementing change in Japan.
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