July 2017

An ally of the LGBT community

The mayor of Tokyo’s Shibuya ward, Ken Hasebe, is responsible for introducing to his district the partnership certificate, a non-legally binding marriage certificate for same-sex couples.
July 2018

A role model

I believe in the saying, “A life lived for others is the only life worth living”. I want to do everything I can to help those around me, to see that many people are happy, and so I’ve worked. To me, work is a means of meeting many people ...
August 2019

Japan’s Achilles’ heels exposed

At the funeral home where I work, pumps are part of the dress code, and I tweeted about how much they were making my feet hurt with the hashtag #KuToo — a play on the Japanese words for shoe (kutsu) and pain (kutsuu), and a nod to #MeToo.
May 2021

Hastening the inevitable

On 17 March, a district court in Sapporo became the first in Japan to rule that not allowing same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. This landmark decision is being regarded as a major step towards seeing same-sex unions legalised in Japan.
October 2021

Looking across the digital gender divide

Woman have made extraordinary contributions in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
March 2022

Creating future role models

With over 14 million residents, Tokyo is one of the world’s most populous cities. In order to achieve a sustainable recovery — as our continually evolving society emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic — Tokyo needs to make use of the full potential of our women, who make up half of the population.