Kishida: Japan Teeters on Brink of Social Dysfunction Amid Declining Birth Rate

Japanese Prime Minister (PM) Fumio Kishida warned Monday that his country is "about to lose its social balance due to the rapidly declining birth rate," and vowed to focus on child-rearing policies as the most pressing item on his government's agenda this year.

And Kishida expressed - in a political speech he made, this morning, at the start of a regular parliamentary session that is expected to last 150 days - his readiness to revive the third largest economy in the world, especially after it incurred heavy losses from the repercussions of the emerging Corona Virus pandemic "Covid-19".

Japan's PM played a leading role in international diplomacy as this year's chair of the Group of Seven (G7) major industrialized nations.

Kishida also apologized, according to the official Japanese (Kyodo) news agency, for the resignation of four ministers in about two months last year because of the intensification of criticism against them after their involvement in alleged scandals, including their questionable ties to the Unification Church, an issue that has sparked widespread debate in Japan since the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.