“The Tiger and Her Wings”: NHK Drama Resonates with Viewers Frustrated with Gender Inequality

Tomoko (Itō Sairi) in a lawyer’s legal uniform in prewar Japan. Judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and court officials were all required to wear different uniforms in courtrooms. (Courtesy of NHK)

Female graduates of Meiritsu University’s Women’s Law Department about to enter the Faculty of Law. From left to right are Sakuragawa Ryōko (daughter of a noble family) and Tama, her valet; Yamada Yone, a poor farmer dressed as a man; Tomoko, the lead character; Ōba Umeko, a lawyer’s wife and mother of three; and Choi Hyang-suk, a student from Korea. (Courtesy of NHK)

Hanaoka Satoru (right, Iwata Takanori), who is assigned to Saga Prefecture as a judge. While he wants to marry Tomoko, he leaves without telling her his feelings when he hears about her decision to train to become a lawyer. (Courtesy of NHK)

Tomoko becomes a lawyer but does not receive any job offers because she is a woman. In order to gain social status, she struggles to find an arranged marriage partner until she receives an unexpected propose from Sada Yūzō (right, Nakano Taiga), a former lodger of the Inotsume family. (Courtesy of NHK)

Mibuchi Yoshiko, the first Japanese woman to sit on the bench, at the time of her appointment as head of the Niigata Family Court. Taken on June 14, 1972. (© Jiji)