Japan leader irks public with insensitive remark

"They're hobbling around and constantly going to the doctor," Prime Minister Taro Aso was quoted as saying in a transcript of a Nov. 20 meeting of ministers on economic policies. Aso also said the elderly should be faulted for not exercising enough.

The transcript was released overnight, drawing immediate criticism in the Japanese media and forcing an apology from the prime minister Thursday.

"I apologize if the remarks offended people who are suffering illnesses," Aso said on nationally televised news.

He told reporters that he intended to talk about the value of preventive medicine and merely highlight the gap between people who take care of their health and those who do not.

Opposition leader Yukio Hatoyama lambasted Aso.

"I can't help but wonder whether such a person is really fit to be prime minister," Hatoyama said.

Aso's comments are likely to erode his already sagging popularity.

He has already had to apologize for joking about people with Alzheimer's disease, saying the ideal country would be one that attracts "the richest Jewish people," and comparing the opposition Democratic Party of Japan to the Nazis.