Minister ponders old-for-young swap

Minister ponders old-for-young swap

MANILA: Japan's finance minister proposed on Wednesday packing off his country's growing army of pensioners to Philippine nursing homes.

Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa, a sprightly 81, said his plan was a two-in-one cure for the strains on Japan's medical system from its greying population and for high Philippine unemployment.

"Japan's aging and there are so few people to care for them," Shiokawa told reporters. "There are so many young people in the Philippines."

The minister, who is in Manila for a meeting of Asian finance ministers, said he had put his idea to Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

An aide said Shiokawa, who proposed that Japan would fund the nursing homes, remarked to Arroyo that young Filipinos appeared "hard-working, and the women homely".

Arroyo replied that it was a good idea, but added that Tokyo should open its doors to more Filipino workers.

Shiokawa agreed that Japanese immigration policies were rigid but said it was not in his powers to change them.

Japan's high life expectancy and tumbling birth rate have raised concerns about strains on its medical and pension systems. Some estimates show that Japan will have roughly one person over 65 for every two of working age by 2025, a higher dependency ratio than any other major industrialised nation. REUTERS