Japan is generally thought of as a country with a conservative culture and traditional gender role expectations. Men are still generally expected to be breadwinners working long hours and women are expected to stay at home and raise children. There...
Japan’s former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori caused controversy with his remarks about women earlier this year. He was serving as the head of the Tokyo Olympics committee when he made comments about how “talkative” and “competitive” he thinks women...
We often turn to films, books, comics and news for entertainment, inspiration and information. However, media can also convey troubling messages, particularly with regards to gender. Every country has its own unique issues with media depictions of...
The coronavirus pandemic has had severe effects on Japan and the rest of the world. The most devastating impacts are, of course, the millions who have succumbed to or have been infected with the disease. While Japan has fared better than other...
While Japan has made some progress in terms of gender equality, there is still much that can be done. Japanese workplaces still discriminate based on gender and expect women to take lesser roles or different career paths than men. In no place is...
Unstereotype Alliance is an initiative convened by UN Women— the United Nations entity for Gender Equality—to eradicate negative gender-based stereotypes in all media and advertising content. Expressing support for their effort, Japan’s...
What would you do if you saw a man upskirt someone on an escalator, or drop a pill into his date’s drink while she went to the toilet? If your answer is “nothing,” then you are in agreement with the majority of Japanese people...
Shiori Onuki is working on a life plan—actually, on more than 136,000 of them. That’s roughly how many people regularly watch her YouTube channel on sex education, which she started with the aim of giving Japanese youth the information they...
The Coronavirus pandemic has had serious consequences in Japan and the rest of the world. Some of these effects, such as the economic impact on countries, are obvious if still devastating. The stress and anxiety caused by the pandemic can also take...
Despite the former Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, declaring in 2013 to improve gender equality and to promote women’s empowerment in Japan, it’s hard to say the country’s attempt to create ‘a society in which all women...