{"id":82115,"date":"2013-02-09T16:40:13","date_gmt":"2013-02-09T07:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&p=32913"},"modified":"2016-04-01T03:00:20","modified_gmt":"2016-03-31T18:00:20","slug":"fukuokas-cute-ward-threatened","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/fukuokas-cute-ward-threatened\/","title":{"rendered":"Fukuoka\u2019s Cute Ward Threatened"},"content":{"rendered":"

City Hall has received several complaints from citizens that its virtual seventh ward, Kawaii-ku (\u201cCute Ward\u201d), is sending the message that \u201cwomen must be cute\u201d. The City\u2019s Gender Equality Promotion Council (chaired by Fukuoka University part-time lecturer Chisako Fujii) entered discussions to ask the city to remedy the situation. At a meeting held on Feb. 7, one of the council members said the initiative \u201cfails to take gender equality into account\u201d, and others present demanded the review or abolishment of Cute Ward. Over 40,000 people have registered as \u201cresidents\u201d of the virtual ward, whose founding made headlines nationwide, but now its existence hangs in the balance. Cute Ward was established last August to promote Fukuoka\u2019s tourism and fashion industries, and AKB48 member Mariko Shinoda was appointed the \u201cleader\u201d of the ward. The City spent \u00a510 million on the project, and the ward\u2019s homepage contains claims such as \u201cThey say Fukuoka\u2019s women are beautiful and cute\u201d. The City received four complaints from local residents who said the project \u201cviolates the spirit of gender equality\u201d and \u201cshouldn\u2019t be taxpayer-funded\u201d, so it asked the Gender Equality Promotion Council to look into the matter. A three-person panel was established to examine the complaints and found that the department in charge of the Cute Ward project failed to consult with the Council beforehand. One member demanded the scrapping of the ward by stating, \u201cNot only could this project end up promoting gender role stereotyping, there were procedural issues with its establishment.\u201d The other two recommended Cute Ward be overhauled into \u201ca project that most residents can agree with\u201d. The panel will meets again on the 21st to compile the Council\u2019s final report. A spokesperson for the City\u2019s Strategic Public Information Department, which runs the project, said, \u201cWe use the word \u201ckawaii\u201d to refer to unique forms of expression and warm-heartedness, not appearance, but if this idea is not being properly conveyed, then we will consult on the wording with the relevant departments.\u201d Nishinippon Shimbun, Feb. 8
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Read more about Kawaii-ku in English here: http:\/\/fukuoka-now.com\/2013\/01\/kawaii-means-business\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

City Hall has received several complaints from citizens that its virtual seventh ward, Kawaii-ku (\u201cCute Ward\u201d), is sending the message that \u201cwomen must be cute\u201d. The City\u2019s Gender Equality Promotion Council (chaired by Fukuoka University part-time lecturer Chisako Fujii) entered discussions to ask the city to remedy the situation. At a meeting held on Feb. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":32914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-82115","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-category-politics","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/82115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82115"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}