It sometimes seems that the government chooses vague-sounding titles and odd release times for white papers and other official documents that contain information likely to embarrass Japanese officials when dealing with their foreign counterparts. This was the case when the Prime Minister's Office issued a report called "The Present Status of Gender Equality and Measures" just as much of the nation's attention was focused on the recent unified local elections.

Although it is unlikely to be officially acknowledged, there was plenty of room for embarrassment on the part of the male bureaucracy in the report. Compiled from the government's own data, as well as statistics from the United Nations and the International Labor Organization, it showed that between 1995 and 1998 Japan improved least in women's participation in decision-making processes among a group of 10 developed nations. The other countries were Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Norway, South Korea, Sweden and the United States.

To be sure, not all of these countries have records to be proud of on the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) scale. Observers of with the international scene were not surprised that Sweden and Norway took first and second place. But some were not prepared to find France joining South Korea on the low-rank list. Organizations in both those countries are male-dominated but each is making improvements in gender equality faster than Japan.