I wrote earlier that I was concerned about what misogynistic trolls on the internet would do to Ms. Ogata. Curious about what was being said I searched Google with the key words “twitter” and “緒方夕佳” (Ms. Ogata’s name in kanji). This is the first (!) tweet that came up. The tweeter, Showa Danji (a fictitious name) launches an ad hominem attack at Ms. Ogata. In other words, instead of posting about the issues at hand, he attempts to discredit her because of her association with an NPO called the “Okinawa Peace Assistance Center”:
He also asks “What university did she graduate from?” and “Who is her husband?” He does all this as he hides behind his Showa Danji pseudonym, a paragon on masculine virility and courage ( . . . not!).
But, for those of you who see this as a “Japanese” problem, I’m not so sure. A lot of similar harassment has been occurring on line (and off) in English-speaking countries:
Online harassment of women at risk of becoming ’established norm’, study finds https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/mar/08/online-harassment-of-women-at-risk-of-becoming-established-norm-study
– Kirk