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Ladies Get Special Parking in Japan

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In the United States, many people see Japan as a country that manages to mix its older customs with technology quite well. But if women look closer, they will see cracks in the so-called perfection. According to the Nikkei Asian Review, Japanese women earn a mere 73% of what their male peers earn, and women who have children are discouraged from returning to the workforce. Women are often groped by men on trains, leading to many train companies designating gender-coded cars during rush hours. Now it seems as if a department store in Ishikawa Prefecture is going so far as to designate female parking spaces.


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I get it, sometimes walking in parking garages, especially at night, can be uncomfortable as a woman. But instead of dealing with any issues by prosecuting men who attack women, installing cameras, or hiring guards, this store in Kanazawa decided to paint some parking spots pink. Cutesy little signs declare “Ladies floor. Priority parking spaces for women.”*

According to Twitter users, the sign used to designate the women-only parking spaces uses the word yusen, which means priority, instead of the senyo used on trains to indicate exclusive use. Regardless of that difference, Japanese Twitter accounts were quick to call out the idea as stupid and excessive. One even asked if the next thing would be ladies-only roadways.


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Let’s get something straight, Japan. Maybe instead of telling ladies to park on their own pastel pink floor you should consider thinking of taking care of the reasons why women would be inclined to park away from male customers. Your ladies are much stronger than you think, but you need to make it clear that creepy and dangerous behavior by men will be punished by law.

*I withhold my rant about having a Ladies Floor in a store because this is a car blog, not Jezebel.

News Source: SoraNews24 and Nikkei Asian Review