'Womenomics' is a challenge for Japan

IT is not clear if Tokyo assemblyman Akihiro Suzuki is a fan of Beyonce's, but he has had to apologise for heckling a female colleague at a plenary session of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly last week where he essentially asked her to put a ring on it.

"Why don't you get married soon?" he had shouted at fellow lawmaker Ayaka Shiomura as she made a speech about the need for more public support for pregnant Japanese women. Mr Suzuki's sexist remark was remarkably ill-timed, for the country's prime minister, Sh…