A leading Japanese cram school that helps students prepare for university entrance exams is under fire for a Chinese character exercise book full of phrases blasted as sexually suggestive.
Sundai, the institution which has schools throughout most of the country, has decided to stop selling the workbook after some 7,000 copies were already purchased, a spokesman told AFP today.
The book, designed to help students prepare for a national standardised exam for university admission, contains 710 "usable" sentences that include key Chinese characters - known in Japan as kanji - that students must know.
But many of them were criticised as being suggestively sexist after parents of students using the book complained, according to the school.
Problematic entries included, "I was puzzled by the size of her breasts" and "She squeezed me in a rhythmic way".
Among other examples were, "Please slowly insert all the way" and "Don't stimulate the sensitive spot too hard".
The company, one of the country's top entrance exam prep schools, said the workbook was written by a veteran Japanese language instructor and screened by editorial staff.
"We thought of sentences in a way that students can memorise and practise easily," said the spokesman.
Sundai has printed about 28,000 copies of the exercise book and plans to recall those at bookstores, he said.
Internet users have posted angry comments. "This is sexist beyond what anyone can imagine," read one tweet.
Complaints over publications as well as advertising considered sexist and demeaning to women are common in Japan.
Last year several hundred people, mostly "ama" - or females who have traditionally dived into the ocean for pearls and marine life - complained about a new community mascot, saying the depiction of the female character was obscene and sexist and demeaned their profession.
