{"title":"Essay","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"エッセイ-佐久間裕美子さん-2026-国際女性デーに寄せて","title":"For International Women's Day 2026. | Yumiko Sakuma","description":"\u003ch3 dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\n\n\u003cspan\u003eLet's Tell Our Stories\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI have come to have complicated feelings about the concept of \"women's solidarity.\" Growing up in an all-girls school, I was a child who knew nothing else. I then went through a period of thinking I was bad with the creature known as \"woman,\" but after entering society and forming individual relationships, I was able to melt the walls I had built around myself. After encountering civic movements and activism, I began to dream that by bundling our individual strengths, we could transform them into a great force. I tried to believe that if we were looking in the same direction from a grand perspective, we could stand in solidarity. But now, I am living through a phase where I realize that it wasn't actually that simple.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFor example, the victim-blaming that runs rampant on social media. Comments attacking people who have been victims of sexual crimes, saying things like, \"It's because you take those kinds of selfies\" or \"It's because you show too much skin.\" For example, the casual, well-meaning meddling that comes out of nowhere: \"Since you were born a woman, you're not a real woman unless you have children.\" For example, the act of mocking, criticizing, or judging other people's appearances or clothing. For example, regarding unknown women as enemies or rivals. For example, the collective action that suddenly arises to attack someone. The concept of \"protecting women's spaces\" devised to exclude someone. The perfect role model, lookism, body shaming, microaggressions...\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThings like this happen countless times every day, everywhere in the world. How many people must these things be hurting or leaving feeling unsettled? How should we deal with such things?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhen looking at it from a bird's-eye view, I think that women hurting, judging, condemning, and excluding other women in this way is all a byproduct of the patriarchal system. We live in a society that looks free at a glance, but in reality, we are not that free. Create a family, have children; women are servants, and children are property and labor. If you live without resisting these frameworks, your roof and food are guaranteed. Those who do not want to enter that framework are excluded from the social mainstream, and who is a woman and who is not is strictly scrutinized.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMany people struggle to survive within this system. Those who are working hard might try to protect that system. In doing so, they express their sense of superiority. And while they're at it, they hurt someone else. People who just want to exist in peace.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe fight for a society where everyone is granted the same rights is more difficult than I had imagined, and it strikes us down. The goal is not getting closer; rather, the hurdles standing in our way seem to be increasing.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut it's okay. What makes me think so now are the stories woven by people who have found their own voices for one reason or another. Women who have realized the various absurdities imposed upon them by their companies, their families, and society have begun to speak of their own pain. And those stories are flowing out from beyond the regions and places where they live, finding each other, and connections where wounds and trauma bind people together are being born every day. Someone's story reaches someone far away and saves their soul. Once you are released from the shackles of the spirit, you can never go back to how you were.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSo, let us live our own lives. Let us live our lives while fully feeling our sadness and our frustrations. Let us cherish each other. Let us lean on one another. Let us live together while respecting each other's rights to self-determination and boundaries. And while rejoicing in each other's existence, let us find joy in our lives and in our endeavors. We will be okay.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"koko-no-me","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53823056380267,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"JPY","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0978\/3469\/7067\/files\/829b47dd325319def52ef239b565f14c.jpg?v=1788831161"},{"product_id":"エッセイ-富永-京子さん-2026-国際女性デーに寄せて","title":"On International Women's Day 2026. | Kyoko Tominaga","description":"\u003ch3 dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUntil I can make beauty my own.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI have been working with fashion magazines for a few years now. After I appeared on a TV show, an editor-in-chief saw my outfit and asked me to contribute, and I have since appeared in them quite often. Since these are mediums that introduce \"beautiful\" things, the people and items that appear there are all beautiful. Confronted with this, I am stunned by how difficult it is to convince oneself that one is \"beautiful.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe same holds true for my appearances on television and web programs; to this day, I feel bewildered when my own face, made up to be reasonably beautiful, is shown in a close-up on screen. It is only natural to be made up beautifully when you are going to be seen by so many people, but my self-consciousness is fragile—or perhaps twisted, or at any rate, not straightforward—to the extent that I feel inhibited about being in a beautiful state or thinking of myself as beautiful.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn the other hand, what surprised me was the sharpness and precision of the aesthetic sense of the people who appear in the media. Stylists and makeup artists finish our looks by asking a series of questions, from how to curl our hair to the exact angle of our eyelashes. Everyone in the makeup room knows their own best features well, and they can all give extremely detailed instructions on the face or hairstyle they want to achieve. It is surely too late to realize this at 39, but having run away from concepts like beauty and cuteness, I learned for the first time that \"cute\" and \"beautiful\" are so incredibly detailed, and that self-consciousness is broken down into such fine segments. My own vocabulary for discussing beauty—thin, big eyes, etc.—is no different from that of a grade-schooler; or perhaps even worse than a grade-schooler.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI realized something else as well. I had assumed that people who appear in the media were purely objects to be looked at—or, to put it harshly, beings whose appearance is merely consumed. I was surprised to hear an actor sitting next to me laugh and say, \"Ultimately, I want to look perfect, with a flawless E-line, even if no one is watching.\" I had foolishly assumed that beauty was only for the sake of being seen and evaluated by others. Contrary to my mediocre assumptions, they are dedicated to perfecting the version of themselves that they find beautiful.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI don't think this aesthetic sense and self-consciousness are unique to those who appear in public. Even without a TV insert, opportunities to check one's own appearance have likely increased dramatically through moments on Instagram Stories or BeReal. As that happens, what becomes important is no longer how one is seen by others, but rather how one sees oneself, and one's dedication to beauty will likely become much more granular than a lowest common denominator like simply being thin or having big eyes.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eI also think these things can easily be dismissed by the clichés I have heard repeatedly and used myself: \"dancing to the tune of a consumer society,\" \"lookism,\" \"the internalization of the external gaze.\" In reality, the \"perfect E-line\" may be a standard set by plastic surgery clinics, and the version of oneself that one loves might not be much different from the representations considered beautiful by the lowest common denominator of Japanese society.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHowever, the fresh surprise I felt from the various things I experienced in the makeup room—the difference in impressions created by the subtle nuance between \"burgundy\" and \"Bordeaux,\" the way the stylist's hands create \"wave curls\"—is far too rich to be dismissed by such old clichés. For someone like me, who has spent nearly 40 years avoiding self-comparison, distancing myself from descriptors like \"cute\" or \"beautiful,\" and intentionally refusing to engage with those standards, the sight of them striving to be beautiful even if they were the only person left on earth with a camera is dazzling and noble. Their new self-consciousness and approach to beauty had long ago leaped over the conflicts of my own outdated self.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"koko-no-me","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53823076204907,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"JPY","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0978\/3469\/7067\/files\/db76f297a8926011437511110dc0f340_065befc5-f95b-48bc-8eca-03cb2a48e85d.jpg?v=1788832082"},{"product_id":"エッセイ-みたらし加奈さん-2026-国際女性デーに寄せて","title":"On International Women's Day 2026. | Kana Mitarashi","description":"\u003ch3\u003eWhat Can We Do Now?\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs International Women's Day approaches, we see the terms \"women's empowerment\" and \"women's active participation\" more frequently. However, working in the field, I find it impossible to ignore the gap between these words and reality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePeople who come for counseling rarely say, \"I was discriminated against.\" Instead, they are more likely to say, \"It's because I'm weak\" or \"It's my fault for not being good enough.\" Yet, when we carefully trace the background of their stories, something becomes clear: the excessive consideration demanded of them, the responsibilities they are forced to shoulder, and the feelings of discomfort that are difficult to articulate. These are not just individual personality traits; they are also the effects of gender roles that have been quietly imprinted upon us by society.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFeminism is, by nature, a perspective for re-examining these \"seemingly personal\" hardships as social issues. Rather than overcoming the suffering we feel through individual effort or endurance, we place our focus on society to ask, \"Why did it have to be this way?\" Just by having this viewpoint, the meaning of the same event can be reinterpreted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor instance, consider trying too hard, being unable to rely on others, or prioritizing the needs of those around you over your own feelings. If we dismiss these as \"personality,\" that's the end of it, but we can choose to pause and wonder if that's truly the case. What has been repeated in this person's life? What expectations have they been forced to carry? When we look there, a new perspective emerges: \"Perhaps this is not just an individual problem.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInternationally, this perspective is shared within trauma-informed care. The question, \"What happened to you?\" is an attitude that seeks to understand the background rather than blame the person. This approach should spread further in Japan as well. This is because, while much of our suffering is locked away inside ourselves, the cause does not necessarily lie within us.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo, what can we do?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne thing is not to ignore the sense of discomfort within ourselves. Do not let those \"something feels off\" moments simply drift away. You don't need to make grand declarations; just pause for a moment and ask, \"Is this truly 'normal'?\" That small question becomes the starting point for thought.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother is to \"question how we work hard.\" Today's society has a tendency to demand excessive effort and adaptation. But does continuing to meet those demands really protect us? When you realize you are pushing yourself too hard, create the space to think, \"Perhaps there is another way.\" When that choice becomes possible, it creates an opportunity to let go of structural roles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd, do not treat care lightly. Care is often put on the back burner, but it is fundamentally a foundation for living. More people are talking about the need for counseling, but in reality, few have actually received it. Even if it is not through a professional, speaking to someone, being understood, and becoming aware of one's own state—these are not extraordinary things; they are necessary processes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI believe feminism is the very practice of \"re-questioning what has been imposed upon us as normal.\" That question can be quiet, and it can be small. Yet, continuing to hold onto it will, in the end, change the shape of society. Even if it doesn't translate into immediate action, the transformation of people's consciousness alone can bring about social change. As mental health professionals, we believe in what is called the \"collective unconscious,\" and that is precisely why we are convinced this can be applied to structural inequality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDo not let International Women's Day end with just polished words. Keep the discomfort or hesitation you felt on that day within yourself. Even that alone might be a meaningful step forward.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"koko-no-me","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53823086788971,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"JPY","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0978\/3469\/7067\/files\/261003_essay_kana-sama.png?v=1791005344"}],"url":"https:\/\/kokonome.com\/en\/collections\/essay.oembed","provider":"koko-no-me","version":"1.0","type":"link"}