The outcome of Sunday's mayoral and gubernatorial elections -- one win and one loss for ruling bloc candidates -- seems to have provided a temporary reprieve for health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa, under fire for referring to women as 'child-bearing machines.'</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='250' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='../images/photos2007/nn20070206a1a.jpg' WIDTH='250' HEIGHT='179'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>Hakuo Yanagisawa </B> KYODO PHOTO</FONT></TD> </TR> <TABLE> </PHOTO> <PARAGRAPH>Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Hidenao Nakagawa met Monday and said they will keep Yanagisawa in his post, according to lawmakers. Yanagisawa meanwhile reiterated his intention to continue on as health minister.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Abe and his Cabinet still face a rocky road, however, because criticism is unlikely to abate even if Yanagisawa resigns. Yanagisawa has not even been immune to resignation calls -- especially from female ranks -- within the ruling coalition parties, many of whose members are focused on the July Upper House election.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Last week, female opposition lawmakers took to the streets amid their boycott to decry Yanagisawa. They asked female ruling bloc members to join their call for the minister's ouster but were rebuffed.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'If Yanagisawa does not resign, –

will continue to talk about his remark until the Upper House election" in July, said Ikuo Kabashima, a University of Tokyo professor who studies voting behavior. "The negative image will probably continue to follow (the LDP) in every election that takes place."

Yanagisawa made the remark during a Jan. 27 speech on the declining birthrate and the strained social welfare and pension system.

"The number of women aged between 15 and 50 is fixed," Yanagisawa said during the speech in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture. "Because the number of child-bearing machines and devices is fixed, all we can ask for is for them to do their best per head."

The remark outraged the opposition parties, which demanded Yanagisawa's immediate dismissal. The Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition force, the Social Democratic Party and Kokumin Shinto (People's New Party) plan to boycott all Diet committee meetings until Yanagisawa steps down.