Japan Press Weekly

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2017 July 26 - August 1 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Miyagi lawmakers call for halt to delivering sexist tourism promotional video

Miyagi Prefectural Assembly members on July 27 submitted to Governor Murai Yoshihiro a written request urging him to immediately stop the distribution of the prefecture’s tourism promotional video which is criticized for being sexist.

The petitioning assemblypersons included those from the Japanese Communist, Democratic, Social Democratic parties and two independents.

The request points out that the promotional video was created according to the sexist idea that “women are devoted to serving men.” It states that the repeated use of sexually suggestive footage, including a female talent’s lips which are zoomed in on, has nothing to do with the promotion of tourism in the prefecture.

The request stresses that the video is in bad taste and violates the basic principle of the prefectural ordinance for promoting gender equality. The paper asserts that it is unacceptable for public authorities to create and distribute such a gender biased video by using taxpayer money, and demanded immediate suspension of the delivery.

Regarding this issue, all female members in the assembly already requested the governor to discontinue the distribution of the video.