In Japan, US book on transgender surgery for young people sparks threats, heated debate

Earlier this month, Sankei Shimbun Publishing released the Japanese-language version of Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, a book by US journalist Abigail Shrier.

Police say bookstores carrying the title, as well as the newspaper, have received threats from unidentified parties opposed to its publication. In one case, a message sent to a major bookstore warned that a fire would be started in the shop on the day the book was released.

The Sankei newspaper’s refusal to bow to what it claims is an assault on free speech has attracted support from across the political spectrum.

“It’s appalling that far-left groups are attempting to intimidate publishers and bookshops and trying to influence what people can read, and I am glad that they are not succumbing to that pressure,” Yoichi Shimada, a conservative academic, told This Week in Asia.

Shimada first read the English version of the book shortly after its release in 2020 and recommended to the newspaper that it be translated for the Japanese market.

Sankei has filed a police complaint on the grounds of obstruction of business. It also accused opponents of the book of attempting to stifle free speech in an editorial published on April 10.

Describing efforts to intimidate the newspaper and retailers as “outrageous”, the editorial added: “No matter what the ideological motive, it challenges the freedom and democracy enjoyed by Japanese citizens.”

The Sankei group “will never succumb to such threats”, it added. “We condemn such conduct in the strongest possible terms.”

“Sankei is being very courageous in the face of these threats of violence,” Shimada said. “But I must emphasise that the decision to print the Japanese-language version is simply a matter of