What We Do
Fighting Japan’s 121th Gender Gap Ranking: Our Goals
Abolish Gender Based Violence
1 out of every 13 women in Japan has experienced sexual violence. We will continue to fight the legal system, educate the general public, and keep advocating to abolish gender-based violence.
Reform of the current criminal law regarding sexual violence
Implement sexual consent workshops in 60% of the universities with VUJ branches to reach more than 10K students
See Women in Politics and Decision Making Tables
The house of representatives has a female participation rate of 10.1%, the lowest among G7 nations. We need female representation now, and we will keeping advocating for gender parity until it is accomplished.
Achieve gender parity throughout candidates
Increase the voting rate amongst youth
Youth Engagement and Empowering Young Leaders
We believe in the power of the youth, therefore we will keep aiming to be a youth-lead organization where the voices of the youth are directly delivered to decision makers while we continue to empower, educate and elevate our young leaders.
Establish 40 student branches across Japan that run autonomously
Have at least 10% of our youth policy proposals be heard
Advocating for Diversity and Inclusion
We aim to keep advocating for diversity, both internally and externally through partnerships and policy proposals.
Pass Japan’s first anti-discrimination law
Encourage 20 cities to fight for same-sex marriage
Increase male participants within VUJ to 40%
Our Active Projects
Sexual Consent Project
Sexual consent is a key concept for everyone to safely enjoy engaging in their sexual lives and to prevent any form of sexual abuse. Unfortunately it is sometimes ignored or unknown in Japan. The Sexual Consent Team, consisting of undergraduate students and non-student activists, is working on enhancing university students’ understanding of sexual consent in universities. Our goal is to set up a workshop on sexual consent in enrollment orientation programs in universities each year.
Anti-Discrimination Law Project
Worldwide law protects everyone from any forms of discrimination, but Japan is unfortunately an exception. There are some cases where Japanese current law cannot protect those who have got unfair treatment based on their own backgrounds. We, the Anti-discrimination Team, are holding online study events, collecting petitions, making legal statements, and lobbing to establish comprehensive anti-discrimination law. We are also collaborating with other organizations that have been tackling discrimination, lawyers, and politicians.
Sexual Consent Handbook
Voice Up Japan Keio Branch × Safe Campus Keio Collaboration Project
The Keio University branch of Voice Up Japan created the “Sexual Consent Handbook” in collaboration with the Keio University organization “Safe Campus Keio,” which aims to eradicate sexual violence.
We hope that this handbook will give you an opportunity to touch, think, understand, and above all – to put learning into action.
“The courage to actively give consent every time, the courage to express “No” and value one’s feelings, the courage to accept any answer with grace, and the courage to voluntarily avoid situations where sexual damage is likely to occur – these are what I consider the four requirements for a person to give sexual consent. I sincerely hope that you and your partner will create a place to discuss sexual consent.”
-Yu Ogawa, Director of Voice Up Japan, General Incorporated Association