Momoko Nojo: ‘Our society is looking for someone who can fix everything, a hero. That is a delusion.’

Momoko Nojo, 24, is the founder of No Youth No Japan, an organization that aims to educate and empower young voters in the country. She made news when she launched a petition criticizing sexist comments made by former Olympics chief Yoshiro Mori in 2021 and, this year, was included on Time magazine’s 100 Next list.

1. How did you first start No Youth No Japan? I started the Instagram account when I was doing a study abroad program in Denmark.

2. Why did you choose Denmark? I was in the third year of my university studies, and I didn’t want to start job hunting (as Japanese students traditionally do in that year), so I decided to take a break for a year and go there to study. I was interested in their welfare system.

3. What was it in Denmark that got you to come up with the idea to start No Youth No Japan? Well, the youth voting rates there were over 80%. For comparison, the youth voting rates in Japan are around 30% (43% for those aged 18 and 19, 30% for those between 20 to 29). So it felt like, in Denmark, that it was normal for citizens of any age to be a part of politics — which makes for a healthier political system. Without active, good citizens, we won’t be able to get active, good political representation.

4. Why did you choose Instagram as the platform to start your campaign? I wanted to reach younger people, and Instagram is where they are.

5. Were you always interested in politics? Not specifically politics but I was interested in our society as a whole. For a long time, I wasn’t sure where to even start when it came to making a change. So when I was a freshman, I started to volunteer.

6. What kind of volunteering did you do? Well, at the time I thought that Japan was a very developed country. So I thought it would be good to do volunteer work in so-called developing countries overseas. However, I came to realize that, in a lot of ways, Japan was actually lagging behind.

7. How was Japan lagging behind? When I went to the Philippines, for example, I felt like I saw a lot more digitization than I had seen here in Japan. And, after talking to people, I also felt that the state of gender equality was more advanced there than it was here.

8. How did you feel after you came back? I thought a lot about what happiness means and our own ideas of imposing Japanese happiness on those countries. So that's when my interest shifted more toward affecting change here in Japan.

9. It’s interesting to hear how gender disparities are handled in other countries. Are you starting any new initiatives to address the issue here? Yes, recently myself and the activists who worked with me on the Mori petition launched the Fiftys Project. Its aim is to bring gender equality into the Japanese political field, and so we will support women and non-binary people in their 20s and 30s in upcoming local elections that are to be held in 2023.

10. What inspired you to start this new project? I noticed that many of my male friends have already begun taking steps to become politicians. However, I noticed that none of my female friends were doing anything similar, even though many of them are already successful activists.

11. You mentioned local elections, which are being held in April. Why is it important to start at the local level? I looked at the list of Japanese prime ministers following World War II. Most of them seem to have had hereditary connections to politics, but the ones who didn’t have that advantage seem to have started their careers as local-level politicians.

12. The percentage of women in the lower house of parliament was about 9% in 2021. Do you know what the numbers are for local-level politicians? The numbers are terribly low — only 2% of mayors, for example, are women. And that’s in all 47 prefectures.

13. Why do you think that number is so low? At its core, it’s about the division of roles both genders are expected to perform. The role for women, for example, is that they are still expected to have spouses, raise children and manage the home. As a result, a lot of female workers are signed to non-regular contracts, and that means it’s harder to build a career.

14. Does this mean that Fiftys’ long-term goal is to elect a female prime minister? Eventually if that happens, sure. But we don't just want a one-off prime minister. We’re more interested in stable political careers for women and normalizing the idea that women can reach those higher levels of power. That’s why it’s important to start at the local level in the early stages of a political career. We want to normalize the idea of women being in decision-making positions.

15. Having a woman prime minister would no doubt be very inspiring to young Japanese girls. Who inspires you? My grandmother. She always told me that peace is the most important thing in this world. There are also the people I work with, activists I met during my time in Denmark. And Kira Marie Peter-Hansen, a Danish politician who was elected to the European Parliament at 21. I was there when that happened and also 21.

16. How did you find out that you had been named to Time magazine’s 100 Next list? I was asked for an interview, and we talked about politics in Japan. After that I received an email that said I was chosen to be on the 100 Next list, which surprised me. I felt a sense of “Why me?” but I appreciated the fact that they didn’t just recognize me for the Mori petition but also for No Youth No Japan. The core sentiment of those two projects is the same after all.

17. We know you’re pursuing things as an activist, but do you have any personal goals for the future? I’m not sure to be honest. I enjoy building projects and bringing people together, and sometimes new goals can come from that process. Maybe I’ll become a politician or start an NGO. I actually always wanted to start a gakudo, a center for children to learn and play freely.

18. Do you have any tips for people who want to get involved with activism? I feel like at the moment our society is looking for someone who can fix everything, like a hero. But that is a fantasy, a delusion. I would like to fight against that delusion.

I spent a lot of time building the perfect plan before starting No Youth No Japan only to realize there is no perfect plan. You really just have to try it out for yourself!

19. What do you do to get away from activism, how do you relax? Well, I read quite a lot of books, but most of them are about the subjects I’m working on. I do like novels. I like the writer Maha Harada (“Today is a Good Day” [2010], “Painting of Paradise” [2012]).

20. Finally, it’s Christmas. What would you like for Christmas? (Laughs) I would like to gift myself some free time. Maybe go back to visit Denmark, read some books and spend some time just relaxing.