Japan’s sex equality advance backfires

They were supposed to breathe fresh air into the conservative and male-dominated world of Japanese politics; an influx of women ministers that would fulfil a promise of empowerment made by Shinzo Abe.

However, the move by the prime minister is backfiring, as some of his newly appointed women are revealed to be ultra-conservative anti-feminists. Two have been forced to issue embarrassing clarifications after their smiling faces appeared on a neo-Nazi website alongside a man who denies that the Holocaust happened, and who refers to Barack Obama as a “n***er”.

Others have a record of support for decidedly conservative social positions,