Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said Thursday that Japan is on the brink of a fiscal "catastrophe" and called for dramatic measures to be implemented.
Speaking at a meeting of the House of Councilors Budget Committee, he said, "We must fundamentally restore state finances."
Miyazawa said the government needs to work out a viable macroeconomic model to regain socioeconomic health.
"For that purpose, we have to make a painful choice between burdens and benefits. That's inevitable," he said.
His comments triggered a strong reaction from opposition lawmakers.
Hiroshi Kumagai, acting secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan, told reporters that Miyazawa should have expressed this sense of crisis well before the government adopted the fiscal 2001 budget.
"We were appalled to hear him making such an irresponsible comment after the budget passed the House of Representatives" last Friday, he said.
Kumagai said Miyazawa is apparently aiming to raise Japan's consumption tax by emphasizing the country's aggravated fiscal situation.
"But there are many things the government should do beforehand," he added.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda defended Miyazawa, saying the finance minister was simply issuing a warning regarding government finances from a long-term perspective.
"I don't think the finance minister was talking about current fiscal conditions," Fukuda said.
"What he meant was that Japan would be in trouble if it were to leave its finances well alone in the coming 10 to 20 years."
But Vice Finance Minister Toshiro Muto said Miyazawa's comments reflect the severity of the current fiscal situation.
"I think the minister wanted to say the fiscal situation is severe and that fiscal reform should not be delayed," Muto told a regular press conference.
He added that Miyazawa's comments basically reiterate what he has said before.