April 1, 2025 (Mainichi Japan)
Ayaka Yoshida, a Mie Prefectural Assembly member of the Japanese Communist Party, is seen during a press conference at the prefectural government headquarters on March 31, 2025. (Mainichi/Masaya Shibuya)
TSU -- A Mie Prefectural Assembly member has revealed that she has received death threats after calling for equipping public bathrooms with sanitary pads for women.Ayaka Yoshida, 27, a Japanese Communist Party member, said on March 31 that she had filed a damage report with the Tsu Police Station over the email threats, which was accepted by the police.
According to Yoshida and the prefectural assembly's secretariat, between around 8 p.m. March 28 and 4 p.m. March 31, a total of around 8,000 email messages arrived at the secretariat from the same address at intervals of every one minute. The emails were titled, "I will kill assembly member Ayaka Yoshida, who doesn't bring emergency napkins with her while being old enough to know better!" and the text also referred to murder.
Yoshida had posted on X on March 25, "Like toilet paper, I want sanitary pads be equipped everywhere."
After being contacted by the assembly secretariat on March 31, Yoshida held a press conference at the prefectural government headquarters, where she stated, "I'm very scared. I've been engaging in my duties to fulfill my responsibility as a prefectural assembly member, and these emails intimidate me. I hope the police will conduct a thorough investigation."
(Japanese original by Masaya Shibuya, Tsu Bureau)
