A Cut Above the Rest:
Shibata Akari

Chie Matsumoto is a journalist and an adjunct media instructor in the Faculty of Law at Hosei University. She was previously one of the editors at Rodo Joho (Labor Notes) and a correspondent at German Press Agency, dpa, as well as a reporter for the International Herald Tribune/The Asahi Shimbun. Matsumoto is also a research assistant in the Media and Journalism Studies at Tokyo University. Her works appear in books, Masukomi・Sekuhara Hakusho (State of Sexual Harassment in Media) (Bungei Shunju Publishing, 2020) and Burakku Kigyo (Black Corporations) (co-author, Godoshuppan Publishing, 2013) among others, and in translations of The Purpose of Power (co-translator, Akashi Publishing, 2020) and China on Strike (Sutosuru Chugoku) (co-translator, Sairyusha Publishing 2018).

Joan Bailey is a freelance writer whose work focuses on food, farming, and farmers markets. Her articles and essays can be found in The Japan Times, Modern Farmer, Civil Eats, and Permaculture Magazine among others. She has contributed to several anthologies in Japan and the US.