NHK WORLD PRIME: 7x16

Women on the Front Line: 15% of Japan's Politicians

Japan’s local elections in April featured a record number of female candidates. Ranked 116th out of 146 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index, Japan is now changing at the grass-roots level. We spent three months following two candidates: a woman in Ibaraki Prefecture busy raising children while campaigning on social media, and a single parent in Nagasaki Prefecture gathering local support. This documentary offers a rare glimpse of a local election system that has changed very little in decades, and what two women bring to that challenging reality. Will our two candidates win?