Ikumi Yoshimatsu

Who is Ikumi Yoshimatsu?

Ikumi Yoshimatsu is a Japanese beauty pageant titleholder, opinion leader, actress, book author and social activist who was crowned Miss International 2012 in Okinawa. Yoshimatsu's acting ability and passionate final speech about the modern role of women and mothers delivered Japan's first Miss International win in the 52-year history of the pageant. Yoshimatsu started the "STALKER-ZERO" campaign to introduce strict new laws to protect victims of stalking and intimidation in Japan, after becoming the first high-profile women ever to go public with her own personal experience in an international press conference. Yoshimatsu's campaign broke all previous records for an online petition on Change.org and she has become the voice of many Japanese women exposing and changing the "culture of silence" toward crimes against women. During an extended interview on CBS RADIO with American feminist and women's rights leader Robin Morgan, Yoshimatsu expressed "embarrassment" and "outrage as a women" when asked about Prime Minister Abe being pressured to resend the "Kono" statement acknowledging and expressing regret over the forced use of "Comfort Women" by the Japanese military during WWII. Yoshimatsu is the founder of the Global Student Diplomacy Network a non-proit organization that connects public and private school classrooms around the world via video conference and promotes a curriculum of mutual respect, cultural acceptance, non-violence and conflict resolution while allowing children to learn from each other.