Japan will this year mark 70 years since the nation saw women win Lower House seats for the first time in April 1946.
Since then, however, the country has failed to make much progress in increasing female ranks in the Diet and lags far behind other industrialized nations when it comes to closing the political gender gap.
Despite Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's pet policy to create a society "where all women can shine," male chauvinism dominates Japan's political arena.
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