When Yumi Ishikawa took to social media to complain about her employer forcing women to wear high heels, support flooded in from all across Japan.
Working as a part-time assistant at a funeral parlour, Ms Ishikawa’s message ignited a campaign she dubbed #KuToo — a pun on #MeToo with the Japanese words for “pain” and “shoes” — that has now spread beyond footwear to include glasses and other requests made by employers of their female staff.
The #KuToo movement reflected concerns over gender equality but its existence also highlighted the growing willingness of Japanese employees to speak up on everything from bullying to overwork, in a country with an unemployment rate of just 2.4 per cent that suffers acute labour shortages.