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Japan Garners Support from Female Figures Against UN


The original rebuttal by Japan’s Women’s Institute of Contemporary Media Culture has gained support from prominent female figures in the industry. The signatory list has gained over 100 signatures to date.

For those of you who have been following our coverage recently, you may remember our original piece on the UN last month. In it, we discussed Japan’s Human Rights review, where the UN sought to critique the country’s treatment of women. One of the UN’s aims was to make an attempt to ban the sale of video games and other media that contained violence against women. This was included among a list of more reasonable terms, such as equal employment rights, so it came as quite the shock.

At the beginning of March, we caught up with this story again when a rebuttal was made by the Japan’s Women’s Institute of Contemporary Media Culture (WICMC). The WICMC made a strong case against the UN’s proposal, stating that “to ban expression and commerce unilaterally based on feelings […] is not to be condoned”. The WICMC also felt that such a ban would not impact real women, and that by focusing on such trivial matters it left “the human rights of real women to rot”.


This powerful response clearly resonated with more than just our own readership, as it seems that a number of prominent female figures have come forward in support of it. Thanks to Reddit users JakeWasHere and RyanoftheStars, we’ve been able to see a list of the signatories, which presently lists over 100. Supporters include writers, artists, journalists and a wide range of female creators within the Japanese media industries.

Most importantly, it seems as though Keiko Takemiya, writer of “Song of the Wind and the Trees”, who was named in the original post by the WICMC, has come forward to lend her support. Takemiya is a prominent figure in the Japanese manga industry, who, by comparison to Western authors, would sit high with the Brontë sisters or Virginia Woolf. Takemiya has been awarded multiple honors for her contributions to the industry and has been recognized by the many different institutions of which she is a member.


To have such a prominent figure lend her support to the WICMC’s statement is incredibly important, and will likely help solidify their stance. Along with Takemiya herself, many other women who gave their approval left comments detailing their opinion on the matter. Japanese novelist Aya Kaida felt that there was no other country where women were so involved in the artistic medium as Japan. Manga and Anime are extremely popular and pervasive to Japanese culture, with many women feeling this was a rarity and a treasure.

In addition to women in the industry, it seems as though some support can be found within the Japanese government itself. On the blog page where the original signatures may be found, there are multiple replies from government officials working from within to protest and overturn the UN’s suggestions. The number of signatures is well over 100 at this point in time, and it’s likely that support will only increase as news spreads.

If you want to check out the original post on which this article was based, check out RyanoftheStar’s post on Reddit. Ryan is taking the time to keep everyone updated on the situation, which is looking quite hopeful as we go forward. It seems as though this misstep by the UN could lead to a greater dialogue about our industries, which have no right to be controlled and censored by an unelected entity. We’ll keep you updated as things progress, but until then, be sure to lend your own support to these awesome women.


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