Japan's deputy prime minister has described the country as the only one in the world with a single race, language and 2000-year-old monarchy, sparking criticism he's ignoring an indigenous ethnic group and Japanese racial diversity.
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Taro Aso, who is also finance minister and one of most influential lawmakers in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, has made a series of remarks in the past deemed insensitive and discriminatory.
"No other country but this one has lasted for as long as 2000 years with one language, one ethnic group and one dynasty," Aso said in a speech on Monday.
Aso, 79, apologised on Tuesday, saying he meant to say Japan has survived a long time without experiencing any major migrations or occupation by other ethnic groups.
Indigenous Ainu people have lived in what is now northern Japan for thousands of years and were officially recognised by a law enacted last year to protect and promote their culture.
Japan also has 2.7 million foreign residents, more than 2 per cent of its total population of 126 million, according to government statistics.
That includes more than 400,000 ethnic Koreans, many of whom came voluntarily or forcibly to Japan during its 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, and about 360,000 Koreans who have been naturalised.
International couples comprised more than 3 per cent of the marriages in 2017. Last year, Japan relaxed visa requirements to allow more foreign workers to make up for a declining workforce in a nation with an aging and falling population.
Australian Associated Press
