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Award-winning journalist based in Tokyo, currently working as a reporter, editor and podcaster at Nikkei Asia. Areas of special interest include gender, human rights and Japanese politics.

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Published Articles

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Nikkei Asia •

Japan needs better contraception access, Planned Parenthood head says

TOKYO -- Japan must improve access to contraception and abortion to boost economic productivity and tackle its aging population, the head of the world's largest NGO for sexual and reproductive health and rights told Nikkei Asia.

"Women need to be able to have children by choice, not by chance, if [Japan] wants more women in the productive labor force," Alvaro Bermejo, director-general of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), said in a recent interview in Tokyo.
Nikkei Asia •

New Johnny's abuse revelations thrust J-Pop agency back in spotlight

TOKYO -- Disgraced Japanese talent agency Smile Up, formerly known as Johnny and Associates, is under renewed scrutiny following revelations that two additional staff members allegedly abused young boys, along with founder Johnny Kitagawa who died in 2019.

A year since the release of a documentary that sparked a slew of child abuse allegations against Kitagawa from former idols and trainees at Japan's biggest J-Pop agency, Smile Up CEO Noriyuki Higashiyama told the BBC recently that "I have hea
Nikkei Asia •

Japan edges toward allowing joint custody for divorced parents

TOKYO -- Momentum is building for Japan to introduce a joint custody system for divorced couples with children, after the cabinet approved a bill to amend a 126-year-old law that permits only sole custody by one parent.

The bill, which was submitted to parliament on March 8 and is currently under deliberation, would revise Japan's Civil Code to allow divorced couples to choose between joint or sole custody of their children. If the couple cannot come to an agreement, a family court will interve
Nikkei Asia •

Japan court ruling boosts same-sex marriage hopes

TOKYO -- Japan's government is under renewed pressure to extend marriage rights to LGBTQ couples after the Sapporo High Court in Hokkaido ruled its failure to do so violates three clauses of the country's constitution.

In the most decisive victory yet for Japan's same-sex marriage campaign, the court found the current lack of legal protections for same-sex couples to be a violation of the constitution's Article 14, Clause 1, which enshrines the right to equality for all, and Clauses 1 and 2 of
Nikkei Asia •

Asia's menopause challenge: The economic case for better female health

For International Women's Day 2024, Nikkei Asia examines the economic toll of female reproductive aging in East Asia, and spotlights the activists working to curb it.

TOKYO/SINGAPORE/SEOUL - Around 12 p.m. on a stifling August day in 2022, Sanae Suzuki woke up to the sound of car horns. Gathering her bearings, she became dimly aware they were directed toward her - or rather, her car. Then she realized she was driving it.
Nikkei Asia •

Japan's over-the-counter emergency contraception trial: 5 things to know

TOKYO -- Japanese pharmacies began selling emergency contraceptive pills without prescriptions this week, as part of a government-led trial that could see the nation join over 90 countries that offer over-the-counter access to the drug.

The trial marks a tentative step forward for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in the only Group of Seven country still requiring prescriptions for the so-called morning-after pill, which the World Health Organization considers an essential medici
Nikkei Asia •

Japan's top court finds transgender sterilization law unconstitutional

TOKYO -- Japan's Supreme Court concluded Wednesday that a law requiring citizens to undergo sterilization before changing their legal gender is unconstitutional, in a sign of progress for transgender rights advocates.

The decision is the first by the top court to find Japan's rules on legal gender change at odds with the constitution, and highlights the growing rift between public opinion and the government on LGBTQ rights in the only Group of Seven nation not to legally recognize same-sex unio
Nikkei Asia •

Japan seeks dissolution of scandal-hit Unification Church

TOKYO -- Japan's government announced on Thursday its decision to request a court order to dissolve the scandal-ridden Unification Church as a religious corporation, following an 11-month-long investigation triggered by the murder of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over his perceived links to the group.

At a news conference in Tokyo, Masahito Moriyama, Japan's culture minister, said the group has "inflicted large amounts of continuous damage on many people's lives since around 1980," including
Nikkei Asia •

J-pop agency Johnny's to split into two entities with new names

TOKYO -- Japan's largest talent agency, Johnny and Associates, announced Monday it would change its name, after admitting to decades of sexual abuse by its late founder, Johnny Kitagawa.

At a news conference in Tokyo, Noriyuki Higashiyama, who took over as agency president last month, told reporters the company plans to rename itself "Smile Up" from Oct. 17, as part of the agency's "vision" to win back fans' trust.

Gender

Nikkei Asia •

Inside Japan's gender problem: The men tasked with empowering women

TOKYO -- On a sunny day in Machida, western Tokyo, back in April 2021, a man in a suit was catching the attention of passersby. From underneath his dark, formal jacket, the unmistakable bulge of a pregnant belly was impossible to ignore.

His curious get-up attracted quite the crowd, and after delivering a stump speech and talking with supporters, the apparent medical miracle caught a train back to Japan's parliament building.
Nikkei Asia •

Trans rights progress in Asia hits barricade of tradition, legal maze

TEHRAN/BANGKOK/TOKYO -- Phoenix, a transgender woman living in Iran, dreamt of being able to express her true gender identity every day from the age of eight. "I remember seeing my older cousin in her princess dress at her wedding and thinking, 'I wish I could wear that,'" she said.

Being assigned male at birth was a curse for Phoenix, who asked to be identified only by her first name. She grappled with gender dysphoria throughout her teens and faced regular bullying, harassment and beatings at
Nikkei Asia •

Gender equality vital for Japan's economic growth: U.K. envoy

NIKKO, Japan --The U.K.'s ambassador to Tokyo has called on Japan to increase female representation in business and politics in order to remain a "strong partner."

"It really matters to us that Japan continues to grow as an economy [and is] using all of the resources available to it," Julia Longbottom, the U.K.'s first female ambassador to Japan, told Nikkei Asia in a recent interview. "Until women genuinely feel able to step forward and be treated as individuals with the same talent and potent
Nikkei Asia •

Japan's top court reviews legality of trans sterilization rule

TOKYO -- The top bench of Japan's Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments from a transgender woman on the constitutionality of a law that requires sterilization before citizens can change their legal gender.

The claimant, who identifies as female but was assigned male at birth and has not undergone sex reassignment surgery (SRS), argued that requiring people to alter their genitalia in order to amend their gender on official documents violates "the fundamental human right to have one's gende
Nikkei Asia •

Japan's top court scraps transgender sterilization rule: 3 things to know

TOKYO -- The Grand Bench of Japan's Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that a law requiring people to remove their reproductive organs in order to change their legal gender is unconstitutional and invalid.

The landmark decision voided a provision of Japan's special law on gender identity disorder (GID), overturning a 2019 Supreme Court ruling that upheld the constitutionality of the law. It has been lauded by many LGBTQ activists as a step forward for transgender rights.
Nikkei Asia •

G7 gender equality ministers vow to boost women executives

NIKKO, Japan -- Group of Seven ministers for gender equality have vowed to "expand and support" women's representation in executive and managerial positions, following last week's revelation by the World Economic Forum that women account for just 25% of C-suite positions globally despite representing 42% of the workforce.

Female representatives from G7 nations and the European Union met in the historic Japanese town of Nikko, north of Tokyo, on Saturday and Sunday to discuss women's empowerment
Nikkei Asia •

Japan court: 'Unconstitutional' not to allow same-sex marriage

TOKYO -- A Japanese court on Tuesday ruled it is "unconstitutional" for the nation not to legally recognize same-sex unions, a mark of progress for LGBTQ rights in the only Group of Seven country without legal protections for sexual minorities.

In a case brought by a male same-sex couple against the state, the Nagoya District Court in central Japan ruled that the country's lack of marriage equality violates the constitution's Article 14, Clause 1, which enshrines the right to equality, and Arti
Nikkei Asia •

Japanese women post record election wins in gender equality push

TOKYO -- Japan's local elections last month brought signs that the nation's male-dominated political scene may be taking gradual steps toward gender equality. A record 21% of candidates for city assemblies were female -- welcome progress for women's rights activists as the country gets set to host the Group of Seven gender equality ministerial in June.

But female representation within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party remained low, at 10% of candidates in city-level elections, and gender pari
Nikkei Asia •

Japan court rules lack of same-sex unions at odds with constitution

TOKYO -- Japan's government is under renewed pressure to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples after a fourth court ruled that its failure to do so was at odds with the country's constitution.

The Thursday ruling by Fukuoka District Court in southern Japan delivered a boost to the LGBTQ community in the only G7 member state yet to legally recognize same-sex unions. In a case brought by three same-sex couples against the state, the judge found the current lack of marriage equality presents J
Nikkei Asia •

Japan launches G-7 focus group for LGBTQ rights ahead of summit

TOKYO -- Japanese LGBTQ rights advocates announced the launch of a new G-7 engagement group dedicated to protecting sexual minorities on Wednesday, ahead of the annual leaders' summit in Hiroshima in May.

Pride7 is the first Group of Seven focus group for the advancement of LGBTQ rights and will hold its inaugural summit on March 30 in Tokyo. The gathering will feature advocacy groups from all G-7 member states, the European Union and countries across the Global South, including Thailand and Vi
Nikkei Asia •

Lack of rights for LGBT+ couples at odds with top law: Tokyo court

TOKYO -- The Tokyo District Court ruled on Wednesday that Japan's lack of a legal system to protect the rights of same-sex couples presents the country with an "unconstitutional situation," a step forward for the LGBT+ community in a nation that remains the only Group of Seven member that does not legally permit same-sex unions.

The decision was Japan's third on marriage equality. The Sapporo District Court ruled in March last year that not recognizing same-sex marriage violates Article 14 of t
Nikkei Asia •

Japan's LGBTQ rights progress with Tokyo's new partnership system

TOKYO -- The waterfront Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo was lit up in its eponymous colors this week to mark another milestone for LGBTQ rights in Japan.

The Japanese capital began accepting applications on Tuesday from LGBTQ couples to recognize "oaths of partnership" and will start issuing recognition certificates from Nov. 1. The system applies to transgender and non-binary individuals as well as same-sex couples, but is not legally binding.
Nikkei Asia •

Japan's slow shift on LGBT+ rights under scrutiny as election nears

TOKYO -- Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition appears to have a clear path to victory in Sunday's upper house election. LGBT+ rights advocates and opposition politicians, meanwhile, see a road to equality laden with obstacles, and are using the campaign to raise awareness about the country's slow progress on same-sex marriage.

While some municipalities have adopted same-sex partnership systems in recent years, these are nonbinding, and Japan remains the only Group of Seven coun
Nikkei Asia •

Less talk, more action: Tokyo Rainbow Pride's call to arms

TOKYO -- Perspex heels, rainbow flags and psychedelic face masks. Yoyogi Park was abuzz with color and music over the weekend as revelers and campaigners braved unseasonably hot weather -- and spring rain -- to attend the first in-person Tokyo Rainbow Pride (TRP) festival since 2019.

After the event drew around 1.6 million online attendees last year -- the largest number since it began in 1994 -- TRP co-chair Natsumi Yamada said that holding the event online during the pandemic helped organizer

Society

Nikkei Asia •

U.S. opposes Israeli reoccupation of Gaza as G7 urges pauses for aid

TOKYO -- Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized U.S. opposition to Israel's reoccupation of the Gaza Strip after its war with Hamas, as G7 foreign ministers called for humanitarian pauses in the fighting at the conclusion of a two-day meeting in Tokyo.

"The reality is that there may be a need for some transition period at the end of the conflict, but it's imperative that the Palestinian people be central to governance in Gaza and in the West Bank, and we don't see a reoccupation," Blinken
Nikkei Asia •

Japan requests revocation of Unification Church's corporate status

TOKYO -- The Japanese government on Friday submitted a request to the Tokyo District Court to revoke the corporate status of the scandal-hit Unification Church, after a monthslong investigation prompted by the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over his perceived links to the group last year.

The court will hold a closed hearing on the issue in the coming weeks to review the government's appeal. If it rules to dissolve the church as a "religious juridical corporation," the group
Nikkei Asia •

Strings pulled: Dissecting Japan's Unification Church problem

TOKYO -- On Nov. 10, 2019, Ichiro Inamori was met with enthusiastic applause onstage at a gathering in Ginowan, a sunny beach town in Japan's southern Okinawa prefecture. He was about to give a lecture regarding "pure love, happy family and sound society" at an event entitled "Lecture on Families of Hope."

His 90-minute speech would go on to detail how same-sex unions endanger Japan's national stability and destroy families. "In countries where same-sex marriage is legalized ... the number of h
Nikkei Asia •

J-pop talent agency president quits over founder's child sex abuse

TOKYO -- The president of Johnny & Associates, Japan's largest talent agency, announced her resignation on Thursday, following a string of allegations of child sex abuse against the company's late founder, Johnny Kitagawa.

Julie Keiko Fujishima, Kitagawa's niece, will be succeeded by actor Noriyuki Higashiyama, who has been employed by Johnny & Associates since 1979, the agency told reporters in Tokyo.
Nikkei Asia •

U.N. group urges 'transparency' from Japan on Johnny's abuse claims

TOKYO -- A United Nations working group on Friday called on Japan's government to ensure transparency in the handling of multiple claims of child sexual abuse against the late Johnny Kitagawa, founder of the country's largest talent agency, Johnny and Associates.

"The perceived inaction by the government and [the company] among victims ... highlights the need for the government, as the primary duty bearer, to ensure transparent investigations" into the case, Pichamon Yeophantong, a political sc
Nikkei Asia •

How a $30 cherry helps boost rural Japan

Tokyo's Ota wholesale market was the last place I expected to find myself at 6 a.m. on a torrentially rainy Friday in mid-June. As I weaved my way -- shoes sodden and hair frizzy -- through the crates of fresh fish and piles of potatoes, I will admit I questioned my life choices more than once.

But the chance of being one of the first in Japan to sample Yamagata prefecture's new luxury cherry variety, the Benio, was unmissable. As a former Yamagata resident, I equate the start of the Japanese s
Nikkei Asia •

U.N. group begins probe of alleged Japan talent agency sex abuse

TOKYO -- Experts from a United Nations working group arrived in Japan on Monday to begin their review of the country's business and human rights record, which will include an investigation into multiple accusations of child sexual abuse against the late Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Japan's biggest talent agency.

The Working Group on Business and Human Rights traveled to the country at the government's invitation, and their investigation brings international scrutiny to an issue of major domestic
Nikkei Asia •

Japan's Unification Church scandal lingers a year after Abe death

TOKYO -- One year after former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot, questions still surround links between his political party and the Unification Church -- ties that the man charged with his murder claimed as the motive for his actions.

Since the July 8 killing at an election rally in Nara in western Japan, revelations about close connections between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the church, formally known as The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification
Nikkei Asia •

Former J-Pop idol accuses late music mogul of widespread sex abuse

TOKYO -- A former trainee idol with Japan's largest talent agency, Johnny & Associates, alleged Wednesday he was repeatedly sexually abused by Johnny Kitagawa, the agency's founder, who died in 2019.

Kauan Okamoto, a 26-year-old Brazilian-Japanese singer, said that Kitagawa abused him "between 15 and 20 times" from 2012 to 2016, after he joined the mogul's agency at age 15. Okamoto told a news conference he was aware of at least 100 boys having stayed in Kitagawa's Tokyo apartment, where the al
Nikkei Asia •

Japan's lower house passes bill to help Unification Church victims

TOKYO -- Lawmakers in Japan's House of Representatives voted Thursday to pass a new bill offering support to victims of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church. The bill is expected to be voted into law by the House of Councilors before the closing of the current Diet session on Dec. 10.

The new legislation, which passed with a majority of votes from both ruling and opposition parties, would ban organizations such as the church from soliciti
Nikkei Asia •

Yamagata's lesson in post-pandemic tourism

When British explorer Isabella Bird visited Yamagata prefecture, northwest Japan, in summer 1878, the capital, Yamagata city, was "a thriving town of 21,000" people. Japan had only recently reopened to visitors after more than 200 years of strict isolationism, and Bird was one of the first foreigners allowed to tour the archipelago unsupervised.

On a mission to discover Japan's roads less traveled, Bird would venture as far north as Hokkaido and as far south as Kobe, recording every destination
Nikkei Asia •

Defying death: Japan and Singapore lead Asia's stem cell research race

SINGAPORE -- Businessman Dato Shaun Lim was a successful real estate mogul until he suddenly decided to switch careers in 2019. Flicking through the movie list on an international flight, he chanced to watch a documentary about "geroscience" -- the study of aging and how it can be stopped. That struck Lim as a rather good business proposition. Later that year, Lim would co-found Regenosis, a clinic and geroscience research company, devoted to stem cell therapies designed to halt or reverse the a
Nikkei Asia •

'Somebody's Flowers' explores Japan's growing dementia struggle

TOKYO -- Japanese director Yusuke Okuda is matter-of-fact about wanting his second feature film "Somebody's Flowers" to appeal to viewers' inner sense of tragedy. "We all have some kind of tragedy inside of us," Okuda told Nikkei Asia ahead of the film's commercial release on Saturday. "We're born with it."

The film revolves around a freak suburban accident. One very windy day in Tokyo, a man is killed walking into his apartment complex by a falling plant pot, sparking an investigation: was it
Nikkei Asia •

Young voters feel unrepresented by politicians in aging Japan

TOKYO -- When Prime Minister Fumio Kishida dissolved parliament in mid-October, the Shibuya ward office placed a sash announcing the lower house election on Hachiko, the faithful hound whose statue sits at the world-renown intersection. The target audience were the young adults who crowd around the popular rendezvous spot.

With two days to go until Sunday's poll, the race is tight in 40% of the 289 single-seat districts, according to a Nikkei poll conducted on Oct. 26-28, with a united oppositi

Culture

Nikkei Asia •

Japanese stop-motion film brings 'wooden' samurai to life

TOKYO -- In the gruesome climactic scene of the film "HIDARI," the samurai hero Hidari Jingoro, spinning in midair, slices through the torsos of 12 of his adversaries simultaneously with a chain saw. For a split second, time seems to stand still, until the victims' bodies, chopped in half as if they were fruit, fall limply to the ground.

But instead of blood and guts, it is sawdust that spews from the enemies' gaping stomachs. And instead of the dull thud of human bodies, it is the clinking of
Tokyo Weekender •

Studio Sedic: Yamagata's Hidden Hollywood

Yamagata Prefecture boasts endless mountain landscapes, an abundance of terraced rice fields, 70 percent of Japan’s annual cherry yield and not a lot else. Or so the humble rural idyll would have you believe. Look closer and you will find, in the mountains of Yamagata’s northern Shonai region, Japan’s best-kept showbiz secret: Studio Sedic Shonai open set or as some like to call it — Yamagata’s Hollywood.

With a surface area of 88 hectares, Studio Sedic is the largest open film set in Japan. It
Culture Trip •

The shamisen Japanese music's unsung hero

The shamisen, a traditional Japanese three-stringed instrument, produces a unique sound that is one of the most versatile and beautiful in the world. Though it has been used to entertain the public in geisha performances and bunraka theatre for centuries, the popularity of the shamisen shows no sign of waning.

First introduced to Japan from China in the form of the sanxian in the 16th century, the shamisen originally became popular in the Osaka area as an accompaniment for bunraku and kabuki pe
Japan Society Review •

The Japan Society - Slow Boat

‘This is my botched Tokyo Exodus, the chronicle of my failures’ begins the anonymous narrator of Furukawa Hideo’s latest novella, Slow Boat. The story is a self-reflective, at times self-loathing, journey through the protagonist’s experiences of Tokyo, and the three girlfriends that characterise this journey. As is typical of Furukawa, the story straddles the real and the imagined, dipping in and out of the narrator’s memories, musings and dreams to create magical realism that would not be out o
Japan Society Review •

The Japan Society - The Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese Literature

As a student of modern Japanese literature, it is seldom that I have anything affectionate to say about literary handbooks. I invariably associate them with essay crises and revision, and so was very surprised to find myself picking up the new Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese Literature to read for pleasure. The conveniently short chapters make it very easy to dip in and out of, and the eclectic mixture of themes and writers covered means that there really is something to please everyone. F
Japan Society Review •

The Japan Society - Horses, Horses, in the End the Light Remains Pure

In declaring Horses, Horses, in the End the Light Remains Pure to be ‘a tale that begins with Fukushima’, Furukawa Hideo sets himself a mammoth task. How to do such a defining event in modern Japanese history justice in just 140 pages? Furukawa certainly seems aware of the enormity of the challenge, and remains until the end torn between tackling it with fact or with fiction. Whether the responsibility is a privilege or a burden, the multi-prize