In harmony-loving Japan, women rarely take to the streets to protest the sexist remarks that routinely spill from the mouths of ruling politicians, and even the most outrageous comments go largely unpunished at the ballot box.

However, there are signs that the outrage over health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa's recent remark that women are "child-bearing machines" might make the crucial Upper House election in July an exception to the rule — no matter how many times he apologizes in public.

During Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's four months at the helm, his Cabinet has suffered a steady decline in approval amid a series of money scandals involving his ministers and a collapse of faith in his leadership.