ASIA WOMEN LEADERS FORUM
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Japan Women Leaders

Fusako Yanase
Association for Aid and Relief AAR Japan

Honorary Chairperson Fusako Yanase / Japan

Born in Tokyo in 1948. In 1979, she participated in the Association for Aid and Relief (AAR Japan) and had become the secretary general after just serving 6 months since its establishment. Since November 2000, she had served as the President of the organization. Appointed chairman in July 2009. In 1996, YANASE received recognition from the Minister of Foreign Affairs for her years of dedication to the field of international cooperation. The picture book "Not Mines, but Flowers"(written by Fusako Yanase, pictured by Syomei Yoh), which supports the movement to ban landmines, won the Japan Picture Book Award / Reader's Award. 620,000 copies have been published. Currently, Honorary Chairperson of the Association for Aid and Relief (AAR JAPAN). Refugee Examination Counselor of the Ministry of Justice.

AAR Japan
https:/aarjapan.gr.jp/en/

Yayoi Kimura
Former member of the House of Representatives

Born 1965. Born in Koto-ku, Tokyo. At the age of 38, after having finished raising her children, she transferred to the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care at Keio University for her second year and obtained a licence as a nurse and public health nurse. After working at Keio University Hospital and the Japan Nursing Association, she was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2014 from the North Kanto proportional block in the 47th House of Representatives election; in 2016, she was appointed chairperson of the Liberal Democratic Party's special task force on emergency measures for the waiting children problem, etc.; re-elected in 2017; in September 2019, she became parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications. In September 2020, Deputy Secretary-General of the LDP and Secretary-General of the Special Committee for the Promotion of Women's Activities; narrowly defeated in the House of Representatives election in October 2021.

Ichiyo Higuchi (1872-1896)
Japanese Author

Ichiyo Higuchi was a Japanese author who wrote short stories under the pen name Natsu Higuchi. She was one of the first significant writers to appear in the Meiji period and also Japan's first renowned woman writer of modern times.

Her stories are centered around women and the poor told in a manner inspired by both the rapidly modernizing society and classical poetry. Even though she died at a very young age (24), her work continues to affect Japanese literature. To this day, she is still appreciated by the Japanese public. Her face can be seen on the Japanese 5,000 yen bill.

Shidzue Katō (1897-2001)
Women’s Rights Activist

A notable 20th-century Japanese feminist, Shidzue Katō was the first woman elected to the Diet of Japan after Japanese women gained the right to vote in 1946. Her passion for family planning and improving the economic prospects of women was her campaign platform. In 1946, she led the first "women only" rally in Tokyo to protest for greater economic resources for women.

Even after her retirement, she continued to speak out about feminist issues, as well as continued to chair the Family Planning Federation of Japan. In 1988, she received the United Nations Population Award and the Katō Shizdue Award was established to honor her work. She was 104 when she died on December 22, 2001. Thanks to her amazing works, there was, and still is, a decrease in the number of abortions, infant mortality, and maternal death rates in Japan.