Six years into Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's quest to make Japan a society where "all women shine", there must - surely - be ways for his Health and Labour Minister to enter a debate on women's footwear without sounding like an ossified, tin-eared stooge of the patriarchy.

Mr Takumi Nemoto could easily have made the whole thing about health. When asked in Parliament last week about demands for a ban on employers requiring female staff to wear high heels, he could easily have said something like: "The private sector must have the right to set its own dress policy, but should design their policies to preserve both physical and mental health at all costs."