I had a talk about Ms. Yayori Matsui at WAM DE CAFE on October 22, 2023 (Sunday). It is not too much to say that JFC Network has maintained its activities with the name value of Ms. Yayori Matsui, but after the loss of Ms. Matsui, JFC Network has changed its activities in the direction of steadily receiving more cases and building a successful track record in handling cases with a focus on legal support.

Love, anger, and the courage to fight. I like these words that Ms. Matsui taught me. What is necessary for women’s empowerment is to have sensitivity, intelligence, and the ability to take action in order to stand up to those in power.

Sensitivity: The ability to feel other people’s pain as one’s own, in other words, the ability to empathize.

Intelligence: The ability to understand what causes people to suffer and have pain. The ability to investigate, study, and analyze structures such as poverty, discrimination, and violence, and to see them as social problems rather than individual problems.

Action: Japanese women are eager to learn, but if they take what they have learned to their graves, what was the purpose of the learning? It is important to make the most of what we have learned and take action.

Thank you very much to everyone who came to the Cafe, and after the Cafe, we had a very meaningful time with the staff over a light meal and a get-together. It was a lot of fun. I look forward to meeting and talking with you all again.