Voices from the Contemporary Japanese Feminist Movement (Palgrave Macmillan Studies on Human Rights in Asia)

This book introduces six key influential feminist activists from Japan’s contemporary feminist movement and examines Japanese women’s experience of and contribution to the international #MeToo movement. Set against a backdrop of pervasive sexual inequality in Japanese society―on a scale that makes Japan an outlier in Asia as well as the rest of the advanced democratic world―this book offers a snapshot of Japan’s contemporary feminist movement and the issues it faces, including, primarily, sexual violence and harassment of women and girls. The six feminist activists interviewed to create this snapshot all work toward eradicating sexual violence against women and girls―they are: Kitahara Minori (instigator of the Flower Demo and public commentator), Yamamoto Jun (activist for sex crime law amendments), Nitō Yumeno (advocate for sexually exploited girls), Tsunoda Yukiko (feminist lawyer), Mitsui Mariko (former politician and current activist), and Yang-Ching-Ja (comfort women activist). Acknowledgements Japanese-Language Transliteration Conventions Followed in This Book Contents About the Authors 1 Introduction: The Modest but Urgent Voices of Contemporary Japanese Feminism Other ‘Voices’ of Japanese Women Conclusion 2 Kitahara Minori: At the Heart of Japan’s Feminist Movement of the #MeToo Era The Day Pornographic Magazines Disappear From Convenience Stores The First ‘Flower demo’ of 2021 3 Yamamoto Jun: Survivor-Activist for the Sexually Abused Spring Shifting Social Awareness Leads to Policy Change Still a Long Way to Go: The Root of the Problem Working with Politicians: The Pragmatic Feminist Approach 4 Nitō Yumeno: Collaborating for the Rights of Teenage Girls Feminist Self-Awareness in Response to Backlash Child Prostitution Homelife Vulnerability Inadequate Welfare Services for Abused Girls Rise in Vulnerable Girls During the Pandemic Where Are the Responsible Adults? 5 Tsunoda Yukiko: Feminist Activist Lawyer Tokyo Rape Crisis Center Learning From American Feminists Catharine MacKinnon Japan Lagging Behind the World Dignity as Relevant to Crimes of Sexual Violence Action on Sexual Harassment Female Journalism in Japan 6 Mitsui Mariko: A Feminist Leading Feminists Feminist Beginnings and International Influences Feminist Activist Teacher Feminist Activist Assembly Member Femigiren: The Belief that More Women in Politics is Good for Women Taking on a Local Government and Winning Progress and Reflection 7 Yang Ching-Ja: Seeds of Hope The December 2015 Agreement Directly Engaging Japanese Youth Feminism and ‘Comfort Women’ Campaigning Early Activism Lessons from Survivors Song Shin-Do Kibōtane in the Contemporary Japanese Women’s Movement ‘Flower Demo’ The South Korean Women’s Movement 8 Japan’s Feminist Movement Within the Global Sisterhood Feminist Knowledge Transfer A World of Difference Conclusion References Index This book introduces six key influential feminist activists from Japan's contemporary feminist movement and examines Japanese women's experience of and contribution to the international #MeToo movement. Set against a backdrop of pervasive sexual inequality in Japanese society--on a scale that makes Japan an outlier in Asia as well as the rest of the advanced democratic world--this book offers a snapshot of Japan's contemporary feminist movement and the issues it faces, including, primarily, sexual violence and harassment of women and girls. The six feminist activists interviewed to create this snapshot all work toward eradicating sexual violence against women and girls--they are: Kitahara Minori (instigator of the Flower Demo and public commentator), Yamamoto Jun (activist for sex crime law amendments), Nitō Yumeno (advocate for sexually exploited girls), Tsunoda Yukiko (feminist lawyer), Mitsui Mariko (former politician and current activist), and Yang-Ching-Ja (comfort women activist). Emma Dalton is lecturer in Japanese Studies in the Department of Languages and Cultures at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. She is the author of Sexual Harassment in Japanese Politics (2021) and Women and Politics in Contemporary Japan (2015). Caroline Norma lectures in the Master of Translating and Interpreting degree at RMIT University in Australia. She is the author of Comfort Women and Post-Occupation Corporate Japan (2018) and The Japanese Comfort Women and Sexual Slavery During the China and Pacific Wars (2015)