Editor Akiko Matsuo remembers the first time she organized a protest. It was 2018, after Tokyo Medical University was found to have manipulated entrance exam scores to reduce the number of women admitted.
“That’s when I realized that when you raise your voice, people hear you,” Matsuo says while sitting in the book-filled office space at Etc.books, the feminist publishing house she founded that same year and whose bookstore has since become a gathering place for readers and activists.
Named for those who appear as “etc.” or footnotes in society, Etc.books (stylized in all lowercase) expanded into a bookshop in Tokyo’s Shindaita neighborhood in 2021. Today, its shelves hold some 3,000 titles, from children’s picture books and cookbooks to philosophy. Most are in Japanese, though English, Korean and other languages are represented. Despite their varied genres, each reflects the store’s commitment to feminist values.
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