National Report from Japan / April – June 2021

The 66th Annual Meeting was held online on May 16, 2021

1) The 66th Annual Meeting was held online on May 16, 2021. Due to the unresolved coronavirus infection, the 66th Annual Meeting was held online on May 16, 2021.

Dr. Yoshiko Mochizuki, Specially Appointed Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dokkyo Medical University School of Medicine, gave a special lecture titled “Women’s health update starting from puberty”. She also mentioned the HPV vaccine, which has been delayed in Japan, and its effectiveness in preventing cervical cancer.

2) “We have to stop the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.  Relay Talk by Women”

The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics are about to be forced through despite the opposition of 70% of the Japanese people. Why hold an international event with tens of thousands of athletes, officials, reporters, etc. from overseas when Japan is under a state of emergency, many citizens are struggling to make ends meet, medical care is failing, and more than 10,000 people have died? The Olympic Games that Tokyo has invited can only be stopped by the voices within Japan.

In every city in the past, many of the people who have risen up in the Olympic and Paralympic resistance movements have been women. It is the many poor people who will be displaced by the Olympics, and the issue of poverty has a lot to do with gender. If the Games are held, it is obvious that women, who are most exposed to poverty and violence in Corona, as well as socially vulnerable people, will be further victimized.

Therefore, from June 1, 2021, six convenor, Masami Aoki, director of the Japan  Medical Women’s Association, Yoshiko Maeda, former president of the Japan Medical Women’s Association, Minori Kitahara and Akiko Matsuo, organizers of the Flower Demonstration, Azusa Miyako, a nurse and essayist, and Isoko Mochizuki, a journalist, will organize a women’s protest relay titled “We have to stop the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Relay Talk by Women” The relay talk will be streamed live once a week and can also be listened to in the archives. The first broadcast was viewed more than 6400 times. June 1 at https://youtu.be/YOcpi92qNJs, June 8 at https://youtu.be/LS6ZqiO1BLc, June 15 at https://youtu.be/0y7DHZsNPNk, June 22 at https://youtu.be/5q50Ulng 1KQ (Japanese).