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Purpose – Using sexual harassment in Japan as a case, this research illustrates how local gender culture, particularly sexual harassment consciousness, has changed since initial local legal reform.

Design/methodology/approach – The historical analysis draws on national newspaper reporting of a fairly new concept of sexual harassment into a local society.

Findings – My findings suggest that Japanese actively engaged in, rather than rejected, the new social issue; their active response gave rise to social consciousness toward sekuhara especially and sex discrimination more generally. Broader and more inclusive definitions of sexual harassment appeared in Japan than the original international legal definitions. Local–international interactions effectively shaped such outcomes.

Originality/value – This is the first qualitative and quantitative analysis of the media's portrayals of sexual harassment in Japan.

Purpose and approach – This chapter by the editors introduces the concepts that feature most prominently in the volume and relates the contributed chapters to one another in terms of concepts, themes, and methods.

Research implications – The viability of the concept of intersectionality and its applicability to a wide range of local and global questions raised by feminist scholars as well as the fruitfulness of applying the concept in studies employing a wide range of the methodologies currently used in the social sciences and humanities is demonstrated. Attention is called to the need to study violence, including symbolic violence, more fully and to pay attention to paradoxical findings.

Value of chapter – This chapter serves to guide the reader through the volume calling attention to key findings and methodological issues.

Rifat Akhter is an assistant professor of Sociology at the University of Central Arkansas. Her research interests are globalization, gender, violence against women, and health. She obtained her Masters in Medical Demography from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and PhD in Sociology from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Her current research explores the impacts of the global economy and gender empowerment on domestic violence against women.