Japan’s new male minister for birthrate tried ‘pregnancy belly’

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida replaced the female minister in charge of tackling the country’s falling birthrate and installed a man who sought to deepen his understanding of the issue by trying out a “pregnancy belly.”

Kishida reshuffled his Cabinet Wednesday and named former Bank of Japan official Masanobu Ogura, 41, to take over the post from ruling party veteran Seiko Noda, a mother of one. In an interview with the Associated Press last month, she blamed a male-dominated political world for “indifference and ignorance” toward a plunging birthrate that has become an increasingly serious threat to its economy.