Perhaps one of the most iconic Japanese dictionaries, "Kojien" — with its vast collection of some 250,000 words and phrases — still include language that may be perceived as misogynistic.
Ahead of the 50th anniversary of International Women's Day last Saturday, an official at the dictionary's publisher, Iwanami Shoten, defended the inclusion of such language.
"You could become complicit in discrimination if you do not know the background of discriminatory words and phrases," Ai Narabayashi, a member of the publisher's editorial department, said.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.