Pop Japan

In the modern world where gender roles have been completely ignored, we must appreciate the women who fought for their rights in order to achieve freedom that women now enjoy. Japan, where the masculine has an apparent domination until today influenced by the father-supremacy culture, there are nonconformist women who has devoted their time in mastering 'manly' skills and become too influential during their times.

So here we listed the bravest, and absolutely the kick-ass women, who has been victorious in turning the tip of the scale in between both genders.

1. Komako Kimura

Komako Kimura is a Japanese suffragist who protested on Fifth Avenue in New York in 1917 for her advocacy in women's right to vote.

2. Tsuneko Sasamoto

She is the first female photographer of Japan, who still shoots now, at 102. She also has published her photo book in 2011. Way back her on her younger years, the young Tsuneko Sasamoto started her career in photography when she's 25. She's also known to capture the pre- and post-war Japan.

3. Murasaki Shikibu

She is the author of the widely believed first novel in the literature history, the Tale of Genji, which was written between 1000 and 1012 during the Heian Period.

4. Hanae Mori

Hanae Mori was born Hanae Fujii in Shimane, a prefecture in southern Japan. She was married to a textile executive, Ken Mori after acquiring her college degree. She was then bored by fulfilling the role of being a full-time homemaker and mother to her two kids, so she enrolled in a dressmaking school. Thus far, she established her shop in 1951 in Tokyo, until a movie director has discovered her designs.

5. Sadako Ogata

(Photo Courtesy: United Nations)
Mrs. Sadako Ogata is a Japanese diplomat and an educator. She has dedicated her career in United Nations, and also has been a prominent academic figure as the Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Studies at Sophia University in Tokyo. She has also written papers in line with her humanitarian work with UN. Mrs. Ogata has received her Ph.D in Political Science from University of California in 1963.

6. Yayoi Kusama

Yayoi Kusama is indeed, one of the most well-loved art-meister. She was able to incorporate her signature dots pattern in her paintings, sculptures, and designs. Her minimalist and pop style has even reached the signature brand, Louis Vuitton. Kusama was born on March 22, 1929 in Matsumoto.

7. Hibari Misora

Hibari Misora is one of the greatest female soloists in Japan. She's also a great actress and a cultural icon during her times. At an early age, after the world war, she has been exposed to a large group of hopeless and exhausted people. her mother make her sing in simple stages in local community centers and public bath houses. Until she joined many amateur contests and got discovered by stage director Keikichi Okada. She emerged as a professional singer and as a leading actress at 12.

8. Kimie Iwata

(Photo Courtesy: Wall Street Journal)
Kimie Iwata has proven that the women can emerge in the corporate world. She served as Executive Vice President of Shiseido Co. Ltd., a personal health care company, from April 2008 to March 2012.

9. Chiaki Mukai

Dr. Chiaki Mukai is the first female astronomer of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Rooted from Gunma Prefecture, she was born on May 6, 1952. She was also the first Japanese woman to travel to space. Apart from being a renowned astronaut, she's also a licensed cardiovascular surgeon.

10. Sadako Sasaki


Sadako Sasaki and paper cranes have become the symbol of peace for children of the world. Sasaki was only two years old when the atomic bomb landed Hiroshima. Their house was about one mile away from the ground zero. When she was 11, her exposure to radiation had been revealed in the form of leukemia, a type of cancer. The doctors had given her a year to live. She has shared a legend to her friends visisting her. If a person could make one thousand paper cranes, their wish would come true. She folded paper cranes and had more than 1000. These paper cranes are buried with her when she died on October 25, 1955.