From 12th November – 25th November in Japan is dedicated to raising awareness in the lead up to the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The colour purple was chosen as a symbol of respect and dignity with which to light up town buildings, and purple ribbons are often worn as well. This is called “The Purple Ribbon Campaign”. This didn’t mean anything to Troop 5 of Fukuoka Council of the Girl Scouts of Japan at first, or so they thought, until they learned of the acute rise in the number of children suffering sexual victimisation through social media.
This led to the formation of ‘The Purple Ribbon Sisters team’ who aimed to teach children how to protect themselves, by helping them to pinpoint the dangers lurking on the internet and to challenge roles being decided based solely on pre-assumptions about gender.
“Six middle school Girl Scouts took action on their own—to think, research, analyse, and put out real results is what’s so amazing about this project. They accepted the situation when society did not respond to protect children from sexual victimization and showed active leadership comparable to young people and have started making waves, I feel.” - Team Member/Leader, 63
The team made a picture book called, “Purple Ribbon te naani? (What's that Purple Ribbon for?)” with this in mind: “If adults began the purple ribbon campaign with the idea of speaking up in the place of women who couldn’t speak up for themselves, then we children should most certainly begin our own purple ribbon movement with the goal of raising children who can speak up for themselves.” - Purple Ribbon Sisters.
The book talks about the ‘bathing suit area (private body parts)’, media literacy, and that children can be whoever they want to be regardless of gender. The team shared the book widely by selling it at children's events, raising money to print more through crowdfunding, taking part in events planned by local young people, and holding read-aloud sessions. The book was catalogued at the National Diet Library in Tokyo, and the team donated books to 108 elementary schools and daycares in their city.
“Through the story in the book, I learned about the ‘bathing suit area’ and how to protect myself, so I feel relieved. When I see buildings lit up in purple, I’ll remember this book.” Participant of an event, 11
The Purple Ribbon Sisters themselves also learned a lot from participating in many discussions at events and now hope to help lead the way as the young generation to realise change in Japan: “because it’s up to us.” They were proud of their achievements and the ripple effect of impact they had:
“When I heard that other troops were using our materials to educate children, I started to feel hope that by enlarging our circle we can live to see the day when our society won’t need a Purple Ribbon movement anymore.” - Team Leader, 16
Operation: Purple Book was awarded the Olave Award in 2026 for demonstrating Intergenerational Leadership in action, moving from Youth Participation to Youth Leadership.
"Girls are developing their capacity and leadership through experiences from their elementary school age to date. This is the Girl Scouting." - Troop 5 of Fukuoka Council of the Girl Scouts of Japan.