Self-Introduction — Interest in Gender Issues
I work in the International Policy Division of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), where I am responsible for engagement with multilateral frameworks, including the International Transport Forum (ITF). I believe that achieving gender equality in the land, infrastructure, and transport sectors is essential to building a society that is livable for everyone. I came to this view after the policy dialogue held between MLIT and the ITF in September 2025, where I learned about the importance of a gender perspective in the transport sector. Through that dialogue, I reassessed Japan’s current situation and challenges and learned that gender mainstreaming benefits society as a whole.
Projects Under Way
International organizations such as the ITF have, over many years, shared and accumulated global knowledge on gender mainstreaming. At the International Policy Division, we are working to channel this international knowledge back into the domestic context, and as part of that effort I have been involved in planning and structuring this website. Here, we showcase leading initiatives in Japan and abroad that reexamine urban development and transportation from a gender perspective. Using these examples as a starting point, by reinterpreting the towns and regions where we live through a gender lens, we can identify areas for improvement and find hints for making our communities more livable. In particular, for men like myself, listening to the concerns and inconveniences of the women around us and paying attention to people who face difficulties in daily life should be the first step toward recognizing women’s issues and deepening our understanding. The way our towns are designed and people’s mindsets do not change overnight, but I believe each of these individual realizations can become an impetus for gradually moving society in a better direction.
Future Outlook
When people hear “gender equality,” many may feel it is a somewhat difficult topic. Gender equality spans a wide range of fields—politics, the economy, education—and tends to be perceived in abstract terms. Moreover, especially among men, there may be those who, while understanding its importance in principle, unconsciously keep their distance because they find the discussions difficult, or who perceive it as “a discussion for women that does not concern me directly.”
Indeed, realizing gender equality requires focusing on and resolving the difficulties women face. However, many of these problems stem from societies and systems that have been shaped primarily by men, and from the mindsets of people who have taken that status quo for granted. To change these structures, I believe men first need to recognize the current situation and reassess their own attitudes.
At the same time, promoting gender equality is by no means a task for women alone; it is meaningful for men as well. For example, creating a society where no one is treated unfairly or disadvantaged because they are a woman improves the fulfillment, safety, and security of the women close to us—family members, friends, and colleagues—and contributes to family well-being and to higher productivity across organizations. Moreover, advancing gender equality, by overcoming the traditional gender-based division of roles, expands the choices available to everyone, including men, and enables more diverse ways of living and working.
This way of thinking also applies to fields such as urban development and transportation. For instance—as we highlight on this website—enhancing lighting on nighttime streets and at bus stops, introducing facilities and services in transportation that take women’s needs into account, and creating work environments in the transport and construction industries where women can work comfortably all help remove barriers to women’s daily lives and work. At the same time, I hope these efforts will also support more flexible working styles for men and greater participation in housework and childcare, and help us reconsider the persistent stereotype in society that “men should work outside and women should keep the home.”