Japanese politician gets death threats over call for menstrual products in public restrooms
A Japanese politician has received nearly 8,000 emails of death threats after she called for menstrual products to be made available in public restrooms.
Ayaka Yoshida, 27, a local assembly member in central Mie prefecture, filed a police complaint on Monday about the death threats she had received over the weekend.
The threats came after she shared her experience of not finding sanitary napkins at a prominent city hall on social media last Tuesday.
'I was caught off guard by my period and was in trouble as there were no sanitary napkins in the restroom at Tsu City Hall. I hope menstrual pads can be provided like toilet paper,' Ms Yoshida posted on X.
The emails threatening the life of Ms Yoshida, who is a member of the Japanese Communist Party, were sent between 8pm local time on Friday and 3.50pm on Monday, at roughly one-minute intervals, reported Kyodo News.
The thousands of emails were all sent from the same email address, it added.
One of the threatening emails was titled, "I will kill assembly member Ayaka Yoshida who doesn't bring emergency napkins with her while being old enough to know better!" Japanese daily The Mainichi reported. The text of the email also referred to her murder.
Another email sent to the young lawmaker mocked her saying: 'At her age, she should know how to carry emergency sanitary napkins.'
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, the lawmaker said such emails carried the 'effect of intimidating me and suppressing my activities as a prefectural assembly member'.
'I'm very scared. I have been engaging in my duties to fulfil my responsibility as a prefectural assembly member, and these emails intimidate me. I hope the police will conduct a thorough investigation,' she said.
About 44 per cent of women in Japan do not take any time off during their period even when they are in serious pain, according to a survey by Tokyo consulting firm Deloitte Tohmatsu Group. At least 5,000 people participated in the survey that was conducted in 10 countries from October 2022 to January 2023.
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