Mizuho Fukushima, Deputy Leader of the Social Democratic Party and Member of the House of Councillors

Aiming for a world without discrimination where the dignity of all people is protected

■ Profile

Born in Nobeoka City, Miyazaki Prefecture in 1955, he graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo and is a lawyer.
First elected to the House of Councillors in 1998. In 2009, during the coalition government, he served as Minister of State for Gender Equality, Declining Birthrate and Consumer Affairs.
He is currently the leader of the Social Democratic Party. His main areas of activity include improving the treatment of non-regular employees, realizing the option to have separate surnames for married couples and the elimination of discrimination against women, promoting the anti-nuclear movement and green recovery, protecting the human rights of detainees, foreigners, and refugees, and amending the Animal Welfare Act.
Currently serving his fourth term as a member of the House of Councillors

Mizuho Fukushima has been focusing on the persistent issue of discrimination since her student days and has been actively involved in citizen movements. Gender equality, discrimination against people with disabilities, industrial accidents... In Japan, where many issues remain, she aims to realize a society where everyone can live as they are. After working as a lawyer, she became a member of parliament and has worked hard as a minister. We asked her what her driving force was.

During my student days, I only went back and forth between home and school, ignoring much of anything. In college, I wanted to study society, so I joined the Legal Issues Study Group, whose motto is "Think about society in the context of reality." In my first year, I researched occupational diseases and industrial accidents, and in my second year, I researched resident movements. At the time, I witnessed a resident movement in Yokohama opposing freight trains passing through residential areas and even attended a court hearing. In my third year, I received a lecture from Takayoshi Igarashi on urban development and a lawsuit over sunlight rights, which is related to the Faculty of Law. Through these experiences, I met many different people, learned many different ideas, and made many discoveries, all of which I feel are relevant to my daily life today. Perhaps you too have had a casual comment from a professor that made a strange impression on you and has been ruminating on it ever since. Through these experiences, I'm glad I joined the Legal Issues Study Group, but I also enjoyed interacting with other social issue-related clubs.

■"I hope we can work together in the Diet."

When I was in junior high school, I wanted to be a novelist, journalist, or lawyer. A classmate told me, "You can't make a living as a novelist," and in a society where it's not easy to get a job in a company even after graduating from university, my father told me, "Unfortunately, there is discrimination in this world. At the moment, women and foreigners are more likely to be discriminated against if they work in an organization. It's better to get some kind of qualification so that you can work for the rest of your life." So by the time I entered high school, I had decided I wanted to become a lawyer.
I originally wanted to become a lawyer because I learned about lawyers active in pollution lawsuits from the radio news broadcast in movie theaters at the time, and I admired lawyers involved in social movements. So I became a lawyer and believed it was my calling. However, working in court left a strong impression on me on how the legal system can change with just a single notice, and how laws can be changed if we speak out. It was during this time that Takako Doi, then chairwoman of the Socialist Party, told me, "From now on, emergency legislation will be introduced in a trickle. I want you to work hard with me in this Diet." Until she told me, becoming a member of parliament was never in my life plans. I felt a gloomy sense of anxiety about what would happen to my life. However, if I continued to work in citizen movements as a lawyer, and Article 9 of the Constitution were to be changed, it would be a problem for both me and society. I wanted to avoid that. So I decided to become a member of parliament, protect Article 9 of the Constitution, and change policies based on social democracy.

■It's not me who needs to change, it's society.

I have been working towards realizing the option of separate surnames for married couples for a long time, but Japan cannot be said to be a gender-equal society to begin with. When we talk about gender equality, we are not simply asking for women to be on the same level as men; rather, we hope to create a social system that is supportive of people who find it difficult to live or work.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin's words, "I want to create a society where every child can become what they want to be, and where the dignity of every person is protected," are absolutely true, but Japan is not such a society. No one can choose their parents, and no one can choose where they are born, but that is exactly why politics is necessary, and we must change our society to one where the dignity of every person is protected. When I was around 20 years old, I felt that the so-called "this is the way girls should live" did not suit me. Even in law schools, the proportion of women was very low.
LGBTQ people, in particular, face a gap between society's image of happiness and their own, which can be very difficult to face alone. I think that many people struggle with the gap between their reality and the stereotypes, to varying degrees. I want to change society while remaining true to myself and not deny my sexuality.

■Message to university students

A nail that sticks out gets hammered down, but a nail that sticks out too far doesn't. Therefore, those who do what they love in their short lives win. I think this way, but I believe one of the reasons I've been able to live such a vibrant life is because of the support of my mother, who told me, "You're a woman with backbone, so live your life to the fullest." Having support from not only my mother, but also my female friends and others who support me no matter what society says is extremely important. Also, when you think about who you are and how you want to live your life, choosing a different lifestyle takes courage and can be frightening. I personally was scared about choosing to keep different surnames and raising our children without registering them as a married couple. But my partner told me, "If things don't work out, we can always file a marriage registration," and that helped me relax. Despite the support of those around me, when there was a gap between what I wanted and what society thought, I looked in the mirror and thought, "I could fool the whole world, but I couldn't fool myself." You should do what you believe is right and make choices and live a life that allows you to love yourself. If you feel anxious, I think it's best to save your energy until the time comes when you can put your plans into action. As a university student, you may have been told by your parents or teachers, "You should live like this." Of course, it's important to listen to the opinions of those around you. However, instead of being swayed by them, you should live by your own will. I hope you live to the fullest.

Student Newspaper WEB February 9, 2021 Interview Toyo University 2nd year student Akane Isa