Tsutomu Takebe

He made the comment at a lecture in Tokyo shortly before the government announced that the troops deployed in Iraq will extend their mission.

"Even if the Constitution and the Fundamental Law of Education were changed, it would not mean that Japan could change," Takebe said.

He was responding to a question about recent serious crimes and a trend by many young people to not seek full-time employment.

Let young people "enter the SDF once, go to a place like Samawah, engage in activity with a tense atmosphere and be appreciated by locals, then (Japan) would change within three months or so," he said.

On Dec. 10, Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima said the remark was outrageous given that it was made at a time when the public is concerned about the safety of the troops.

"The remark made light of one's life and sounded as if he was telling the young 'freeters' to get knocked into shape by going to Iraq," she said.

The Japan Times Weekly: Dec. 18, 2004
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