Konnichiwa! Black Women In Japan To Hold First Conference

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Black Women In Japan
Japanese is most often thought of as a very homogeneous society, but are Black women from all over the globe who have decided to make a home there. And two of those women, Avril Haye Matsui and Stephanie Fay Gayle, created a group for these women known as Black Women in Japan (BWIJ) in September 2014.

The organization has evolved from a Facebook Group to a live meeting group with BWIJ holding its first conference on March 25th in Tokyo. BWIJ, which has grown from a membership of 400 at its launch to more than 1,500 currently, is expecting members from all over Japan to head to Tokyo. The convention is open to all women of African descent in Japan.


According to Matsui, BWIJ has helped members network as well as connect with others going through similar experiences of being Black women in the east.

“I was feeling kinda frustrated,” Matsui told Japan Times. “I didn’t feel like Black women were being represented well. There were people writing books about ‘Western’ women in Japan but none of these women were women like me. It was like we didn’t really exist. One day, Stephanie and I went to this African Festa in Nagoya. All of the vendors there were African, but all of the entertainment was Japanese. There wasn’t even one Black face. We were just sitting there shaking our heads, thinking, ‘This isn’t right.’ It wasn’t that these Japanese performers were deliberately mocking African culture. I think they were trying to be very respectful about it, but they had forgotten to include African people in their efforts to represent Africa.”

Added Nashville, Tennessee-native Jackie Thompson, who has been living in Japan for the past five years, “I’m Black, I’m a woman and I live in Japan, so I joined. I’ve found it to be a very good support center. Being a Black woman working in a Japanese work environment has its challenges. And it’s great to have sisters post about their own experiences and know that I’m not alone here in my little inaka (countryside) town.”


The BWIJ convention will be a one-day event and include nine workshops covering spirituality, developing vibrant habits, hair, beauty, fashion, dance. Also on the schedule are lunch, dinner, and an after-party. BWIJ will also launch a program called Big/Little Sisters to help those struggling during their relocation transition. “In Japan, not only Black women but many foreigners have situations where you can’t talk to your family back home because, though they know you they don’t know the situation, so they really can’t relate. And it’s sometimes hard to be strong by yourself. You can breakdown so easily,” explained Bridgette Wright, another of the organizers, who moved to Japan from Jamaica in 2013. “I never want to hear about a Black woman committing suicide because she felt like she couldn’t reach out to anyone or she felt like she was going through something that only she was experiencing.”
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