Photo/Illutration Taro Aso, vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party, gives a speech in Ashiya, Fukuoka Prefecture, on Jan. 28. (Ayako Nakada)

A female foreign minister's looks have nothing to do with her job performance.

However, former Prime Minister Taro Aso suggested otherwise in his remarks that could be considered outright sexist and extremely inappropriate.

When it comes to making unsuitable comments, Aso is decidedly a "repeat offender."

But Prime Minister Fumio Kishida not only allows him to remain the Liberal Democratic Party's vice president but is also unable to even admonish him.

For that, Kishida's responsibility must be questioned.

In a speech Aso gave on Jan. 28 in Ashiya, Fukuoka Prefecture, he said of Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa: "I wouldn’t say that she is a particularly beautiful woman. But at least she definitely speaks with an air of authority, speaks proper English, of course, and does everything herself, from making appointments to whatnot.”

Aso had absolutely no reason to mention Kamikawa's appearance while praising her fine performance. In fact, what he said would never be condoned in any decent society.

Aso had actually prefaced the above speech with this comment: "Even from our point of view, wow, this ‘obasan’ is good."

From the original Japanese of the words he used, it seemed clear that he was behaving as one of the entitled, mainstream male politicians who have always held power, talking down to a female politician who is a member of the minority.

If Aso genuinely considered Kamikawa as his peer, would he ever have referred to her as "obasan"? The term denotes an older woman and is ageist in itself, and can also be used derisively as a putdown.

Kishida also found himself in hot water in September when he appointed five women, including Kamikawa, to his Cabinet and blurted out, "I hope they will fully demonstrate the sensitivity and empathy that are unique to women.”

The LDP's repetitive emphasis on the gender of politicians may be explained by the party's ultra-reactionary attitude that seriously hampers women's advances in society.

At the time of the Cabinet reshuffle last year, there were zero women senior vice ministers and parliamentary secretaries. Women make up a little more than 10 percent of the LDP members of the Upper and Lower houses combined.

In the most recent Lower House election, women accounted for less than 10 percent of successful candidates. The corresponding figure for the Upper House was about 20 percent.

These numbers hardly make the LDP a party that represents a society where women account for half the population. The party last year set the target of raising the number of female Diet lawmakers to "30 percent in 10 years."

But under the current leadership, the party's commitment is highly dubious.

Back to Aso. Before Kamikawa, there were two female foreign ministers. But he said, "My understanding is that in Japan, no woman has ever been appointed foreign minister (before Kamikawa)."

It may well be that Aso does not even possess "basic knowledge" as a politician.

And he has also made remarks that will never be condoned in the international community, such as when he referred to the Nazis and said, "Why not learn from how they did things?"

But again, there is no movement within the LDP to take Aso to task for his latest slip-up. This is due to the LDP's structure of factional politics that has empowered Aso to thoroughly control the running of the administration as the head of the Aso "habatsu" faction to which many lawmakers belong.

If someone like Aso is allowed to go scot-free for uttering even the most obnoxious faux pas, the LDP's "self-cleansing" mechanism can never be expected to kick in.

And this means the party's nature itself must be questioned.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 31