Recently, the popular TV program “Sukkiri” took heat for making discriminatory remarks about Japan’s indigenous Ainu people. Now, another news program has made a similarly insensitive faux pas, this time regarding women and gender equality.
A new web commercial by TV Asahi’s “Hodo Station” (報道ステーション, “News Station”) is garnering criticism on social media for its dismissive take on gender equality. In the 30-second commercial, a young woman has just returned from a day at the office. After exclaiming how weird it was to be back at work, she goes on to say:
「会社の先輩、産休あけて赤ちゃん連れてきてたんだけど、もうすっごいかわいくって。どっかの政治家が『ジェンダー平等』とかって今、スローガン的に掲げてる時点で、何それ、時代遅れって感じ」
“My senior at work is back from maternity leave and brought her baby to work. It was so freaking cute! When you have politicians and such using “gender equality” as their campaign slogan, like, it feels so outdated!”
No Title
No Description
The rest of her airy, rather inane chatter also left little to be inspired, but it was the “gender equality” line that really rubbed people the wrong way. “It’s clearly problematic to show gender equality in a way that gives off the impression it’s “outdated,” tweeted Yamamoto Kazuna of Voice Up Japan. Others, however, pointed out that the woman could have been implying gender equality is already a reality in her workplace. If that was what Hodo Station was trying to go for, though, they sorely missed the mark.
Hodo Station Responds
As a result, Hodo Station pulled the commercial from their official Twitter and YouTube accounts following backlash. In a typical, public non-apology expressing their regret, TV Asahi stated their intentions were to make achieving gender equality a reality, but many people aren’t buying it.
Planning a trip to Japan? Get an authentic, interpreted experience from Unseen Japan Tours and see a side of the country others miss!

"Noah [at Unseen Japan] put together an itinerary that didn’t lock us in and we could travel at our own pace. In Tokyo, he guided us personally on a walking tour. Overall, he made our Japan trip an experience not to forget." - Kate and Simon S., Australia


We hate paywalls. Our content remains both free and fiercely independent. If you love the values we stand for and want to help us expand our coverage of Japan, consider a recurring or one-time donation to the Unseen Japan Journalism Fund today.
Hodo Station is also no stranger to public ridicule. They attracted negative press in 2018 for their poor handling of a sexual harassment case involving a female TV Asahi reporter and a Finance Ministry official. Just recently they faced criticism for abruptly firing 10 contract workers who worked on a program where an employee was disciplined for sexual harassment in 2019. Some have also been quick to point out how TV Asahi has no female executives on their board. One could say that given all this, perhaps TV Asahi shouldn’t be trying to inspire people to work towards gender equality until they’ve actually achieved that themselves.
Gender Equality is Not the Reality…
Jibu Renge (治部れんげ), a journalist specializing in gender issues, lists the commercial’s 3 main problems. First, it presents the false impression that Japan has achieved gender equality. Second, directing the actress to laugh while calling gender equality outdated belittles and discriminates against those actively fighting for gender equality. Finally, Jibu says having a woman act out the script is problematic. “It’s really underhanded to have the younger generation and women proclaim that ‘discrimination and such doesn’t exist,'” writes Jibu.
Planning a trip to Japan? Get an authentic, interpreted experience from Unseen Japan Tours and see a side of the country others miss!

"Noah [at Unseen Japan] put together an itinerary that didn’t lock us in and we could travel at our own pace. In Tokyo, he guided us personally on a walking tour. Overall, he made our Japan trip an experience not to forget." - Kate and Simon S., Australia


We hate paywalls. Our content remains both free and fiercely independent. If you love the values we stand for and want to help us expand our coverage of Japan, consider a recurring or one-time donation to the Unseen Japan Journalism Fund today.
…So What is the Reality?
The reality is this: out of 153 countries in the World Economic Forum’s 2020 Global Gender Gap Index, Japan ranks at an abysmally low 121. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is also disproportionately affecting women and female-dominant industries. It certainly doesn’t help that women, especially working mothers, are being forced more than ever to choose between child-rearing and work, due in part to the government’s callous decision to cut childcare benefits.
Recent sexist comments by former Japanese Olympic Committee chief Mori Yoshiro reflect a deeply ingrained misogynistic attitude towards women that won’t be so easy to dismantle. And despite former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s “womenomics” campaign, job security and pay for women remain far less stable than men.
Marika Katanuma on X (formerly Twitter): “Adding part-time & full-time men in the previous chart. Japan’s gender pay gap is the second widest among OECD nations, surpassed only by South Korea. Japanese women make 74.3% of as much as men, and the gap only narrowed by 3.4 points during Abe’s term. (70.9% in 2012) pic.twitter.com/2K2ukMchT0 / X”
Adding part-time & full-time men in the previous chart. Japan’s gender pay gap is the second widest among OECD nations, surpassed only by South Korea. Japanese women make 74.3% of as much as men, and the gap only narrowed by 3.4 points during Abe’s term. (70.9% in 2012) pic.twitter.com/2K2ukMchT0
Yes, there are signs that the gender gap is closing, but progress will no doubt continue to be incremental and rebuffed by bureaucratic red tape and conservative politics. Yet some TV stations have started focusing on overlooked social issues in Japan, including Nippon Television Network and their webcast program “Update the world.” Going forward, Hodo Station, and TV Asahi in general, might want to take a page from NTN’s playbook and promote gender equality in a more direct and approachable manner.