Nikkei Inc., is the publisher of Japan’s most influential economic newspaper, The Nikkei, which is widely read by senior Japanese management personnel and is the world’s largest business daily in terms of circulation. In the belief that gender equality in the workplace is essential to a the creation of a prosperous economy, the company has long sought to address gender inequality in the country. This project was to heighten public awareness of sexist and discriminatory language, and to highlight the role such language plays in perpetuating socially corrosive gender stereotypes. The objective was to find a way to achieve this in an engaging and memorable way, so that it would resonate with both older, management-level senior executives and the younger generation who will lead Japanese corporations in the future.

In 2020, Japan was ranked 121st out of 153 countries in the Gender Gap Index, an undeniably miserable showing. Japan is also a nation where “putting up with things” is considered a virtue, with the unfortunate result that sexist and discriminatory remarks often get shrugged off as “something you just have to put up with.” In such an environment, even blatantly sexist comments like, “You’re a woman. What do you need to go to college for?” or “You’re a man, so stop complaining and get to work,” can pass unremarked in daily life. We wanted to find a way to focus people’s minds on these types of statements, so they could recognise how offensive such language really is, and how it serves to perpetuate stereotypes that are a barrier to gender equality and social progress.

One of our key insights was that it is the ephemeral nature of “casual remarks” that enable sexist and discriminatory comments to pass without reprimand or embarrassment for the person who utters them. So we came up with the idea of creating a permanent record of their use, to enable people to understand how inappropriate such comments are, and to enable future generations to avoid the mistake of repeating them. To make the record “official,” we decided to it should be published as a “reference work” under the title, “The Toxic Dictionary.” We knew that doing so would not only generate considerable discussion on social media, but also emphasise the fact that we wanted future generations to learn from the mistakes of the past.

Our choice of the dictionary format was central to our strategy. It is a format often used for collections of wise words, aphorisms, and famous quotations, and by using it to create a catalogue of discriminatory remarks, it allows us to show in stark contrast how absurd and inappropriate such language really is. The humorous aspect of calling it “The Toxic Dictionary” was also an element of our strategy because we knew it would resonate with young Japanese and draw attention on social media. At the same time, it was also a book—a more permanent medium that would reach a wider and older audience with more limited social media engagement.

To execute our strategy, we put out a call to the general public in newspapers and on the web and social media asking them to submit examples of “Toxic words” they had heard in daily life. Although Japanese are often reluctant to confront people who use discriminatory language in person, the anonymity offered by online submission channels made it easier for people to respond.

People tweeted about The Toxic Dictionary some 6,000 times, creating over five million impressions on social media that raised public awareness of sexism and gender equality issues across a broad swathe Japanese society. In addition, we were able to attract 20 corporations as cosponsors, and achieved mutually beneficial synergies with a Nikkei-sponsored “Gender Gap Conference” featuring government ministers, media notables, and video-link participation by Taiwan’s Minister without Portfolio Audrey Tang, who is the youngest and first transgender person to hold that post. The dictionary is now available on Amazon and at major bookstores nationwide.