or cooking. It's not a matter of good or bad, but we need to accept reality that men and women are genetically different". The paper's Editorial Information Executive could not confirm the source of this information because of the age of the article. On 2 May 2008, Nakagawa had a discussion about market access of US beef and the Doha Round with Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer. In the Cabinet of Prime Minister Taro Aso, appointed on 24 September 2008, Nakagawa was appointed as Minister of Finance and Minister of State in charge of Financial Services. He was defeated in his constituency in the 2009 general election. Contribution to IMF On 10 October 2008, at G7 Nakagawa proposed in Washington a new emergency International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan program to help emerging and small economies such as Iceland, Brazil, Ukraine and Pakistan. The total size of the loans could be about US$200 billion (about 20 trillion yen) In some newly emerging economies and small and medium European countries, total assets in domestic financial institutions far exceed the national gross domestic products and those governments might be unable to raise necessary funds to help failing financial institutions through measures such as nationalisation. "Nakagawa plan" eased the concerns of small countries and emerging markets and reduced tension in international financial markets. On 14 February 2009, Strauss-Kahn stated 'This commitment is the single-largest supplemental financing contribution by an IMF member country ever, and it clearly demonstrates Japan's leadership and continuing commitment to a multilateral approach to global economic and financial challenges.' Strauss-Kahn said he hoped other countries would join Japan in providing support to the 185-nation institution. Prime Minister Taro Aso told Japan was ready to lend up to $100 billion from our foreign reserves to the IMF if it finds itself with insufficient funds to help emergency economies. Nikkei Business Daily reported that selling U.S. government bonds held by Japan to provide cash to the IMF would affect U.S. bond yields so Tokyo may consider lending U.S. government bonds to the IMF as collateral for it to raise funds. In a communiqué, G-7 ministers committed to acting jointly to support world growth and employment and strengthen the financial sector, while avoiding protectionism. The ministers met as the U.S. Senate voted in favor of a $787 billion economic stimulus plan—clearing the way for it to be signed into law by President Barack Obama. Strauss-Kahn