Asia | Almost twins

South Korean literature is inspiring Japanese women

Korean feminist writers follow a trail blazed by K-pop stars

A woman reads a book outside Shinjuku Station, in Tokyo.
Image: Getty Images
|TOKYO

When Ogasawara Chiaki, a Japanese woman, read “Kim Ji-young, Born 1982”, a South Korean novel about sexism, she recognised the subject matter. Like the protagonist, Kim Ji-young, Ms Ogasawara was treated as inferior to her brother. When she read of Kim learning of hidden cameras in her workplace toilets, Ms Ogasawara recalled her experience of sexual harassment at work. “It didn’t feel like I was reading about another country.”

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Almost twins”

From the August 19th 2023 edition

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