Regarding the story "Schools to hire 1,726 more teachers in 2020" in the Dec. 24 edition, after a 12-year freeze the government finally decides to spend ¥1.5 trillion on education in a society that's been disappearing for 50 years, with the school-age population at its lowest ever.
At the same time, the defense budget has risen every year for eight years, and is four times the amount spent on education, even after the latter's new increase.
Just looking at the way the government spends taxpayers' money is enough to persuade all Japanese families not to have children. More is spent on building unnecessary roads and failed or fatalistic projects, like forcing dangerous nuclear plants back into business, by hook or by crook, and completely against public sentiment.
Japan's gender equality has long been one of its biggest embarrassments, and is actually dropping, just like its educational rankings.
Instead of a provocative and unnecessary militaristic buildup, and a budgetary imbalance sustained by irresponsible waste, it may be time to kick out the political cartel of geriatric chauvinists and replace them with sensible female leaders. Maybe they can balance the worst public debt on the planet incurred by the old guard of reckless over-spenders, and even save the pacifist Constitution that saved Japan from extinction just over half a century ago. Abenomics has proven itself to be more like camouflage for greed and aggression than anything else.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.