Kanji Kato, a member of prime minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic party, told a party faction meeting that when he is asked to give speeches at wedding receptions, he encourages the bride and groom to produce “at least three children”.

When he encounters young women who say they do not intend to marry, Kato, who has six children and eight grandchildren, said: “I tell them that if they don’t get married then they won’t be able to have children, and that they’ll end up in a care home paid for with the taxes of other people’s children.”