Japan's first lady said she has such a busy schedule that sometimes it is up to the prime minister to do the dishes or take out the rubbish.

It is the kind of flexibility that she says is needed for the advancement of women in Japan.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing companies and the government to hire and promote more women, having appointed five women to his 18-member Cabinet. His wife, Akie Abe, said that her husband gives her time for activities including raising organic rice and appearing in a gay pride parade. Despite her husband's conservative image, she says he does chores when he can.