She is heartened by some modest progress. The persistent Twitter bashing has triggered some panic attacks for Ishikawa recently, for which she has sought medical help. “We need to stop those voices who are trying to shout us down and create a society where people in the future won’t have to suffer as much as I am”. “I was struck by how much harassment you have to endure if you’re going to speak out about discrimination against women, and how that’s a huge problem in Japan,” she said. It has been savaged in dozens of one-star reviews on Amazon Japan’s website, with one reviewer calling it a “terrible” book “with thin content” that has been mostly made up. Her book, the title of which has been rendered #KuToo: Serious Feminism Starting from the Shoes in English, was published in November. Ishikawa has been called a fraud and a fabricator who launched the campaign because she couldn’t get enough attention as a swimsuit model who sometimes posed nude. Ishikawa’s online petition gained strong support. “We need to create a society where women can take control of their future”.īut the torrent of criticism she’s faced has made her realise that “many Japanese don’t think there’s any discrimination here. “Women need to realise they do have choices,” she said. She cited professional expectations that women wear makeup and contact lenses instead of glasses in public, and the belief that women will quit their jobs once they bear children, as well as do most of the housework. The focus on high heels is symbolic of the sexism that women face on many levels in Japan and the assumptions about their roles in society. Ishikawa said her goals are much larger than getting firms to give women more flexibility in workplace footwear. Echoing the #MeToo campaign against sexual harassment, she used #KuToo in her tweets-a play on the Japanese words for shoes ( kutsu) and pain ( kutsuu). “It’s been half miserable and half wonderful,” said Ishikawa, a former pinup model and actress, about her life since she unwittingly started the movement in January 2019. Since then, Ishikawa has published a book about her experiences, helped launch a line of flat shoes and was named to the BBC 100 Women 2019 list as one of the most inspiring and influential women in the world-one of only two Japanese, the other being sumo wrestler Hiyori Kon, who was interviewed in the May/June issue of ACUMEN. That tweet generated an overwhelming and sympathetic response from many women, as well as relentless online harassment, often from men, that continues to this day. She did so with a tweet complaining about being forced to wear high heels at her part-time funeral parlour job. I t’s been more than a year since Yumi Ishikawa, 33, sparked the #KuToo social media campaign against gender discrimination in Japan. Embassy From Social Club to Business Hub.Publicity Uniquely the British School in Tokyo.Book review An illustrated guide to Samurai history and culture: from the age of Musashi to contemporary pop culture.In focus Bccj member highlight: Robert Walters Japan.BCCJ Brave Conversations, Positive Transformations.
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