Ko Archives isn’t an aesthetics page though - It’s a community. The page shares the stories of empowering Japanese women and folk around the world, community-submitted heirloom family photos, and has spearheaded the discussion of socio-political issues such as BLM in Japanese.

The page has become a bridge between not only Japanese women internationally, but also between movements that many in Japan do not view as a Japanese problem.

Japanese tattoo artist Tokumitsu Uchida tattoos the back of a woman with a needle-pointed electric drill that he made himself. 1955. Source: @ko_archives

By providing information in both Japanese and English, Ko Archives educates, and has brought attention to important movements such as marriage equality in Japan, LGBTQI+ rights, the women's rights movement, and many other issues that are under discussion amongst Japanese youth online.

Fundraisers and petitions have even been shared frequently on Ko Archives.

A popular collaboration between Ko Archives and a Japanese American artist known on Instagram as ‘Orangejuicecity’ raised funds for Black trans support nonprofit Gworls through the sale of ACAB t-shirts, stylishly written in katana. Links for donations to the George Floyd memorial fund, National bail project, and other fundraisers have also been shared through the page.

Info post in support of the BLM movement on @ko_archives

Ko Archives is run by Aya Apton; a Japanese-American woman, who with her friend decided to create the community as a way to reconnect with their culture and explore the diasporic experience that comes with being mixed-race or growing up overseas.

The page continues to make posts inline with that, and doesn’t discriminate in the definition of what it means to be “Japanese”; intending to connect multiple generations of Japanese people born in foreign countries, indigenous groups, and other ethnic groups with historic lineage in the country.

Ko Archives has absolutely become indispensable in its ability to connect, educate, and inspire both people of Japanese and non-Japanese descent.

We met with Aya to get some more insight about her and into the workings of the page.

Hello Aya, can you please introduce yourself and Ko Archives to the Sabukaru network?

Hi! My name is Aya Apton and I run Ko Archives, a project that shares stories of Japan and its diaspora.

I post all kinds of things that fall under that umbrella—including photo submissions from people’s family collections, stories of incredible Japanese women across the world, and posts about social issues that affect our community today. I especially try to focus on stories about Japanese people with historically marginalized gender identities.

Chiaki Mukai

The first Japanese woman in space. Following her first space mission, she also became the first Japanese citizen to fly into space twice.

How and when did you start Ko Archives, and was there a specific reason/moment that made you do it?

I originally came up with the idea for Ko Archives with a friend. We’re both Japanese Americans who were raised in the US, so growing up, we never got to hear stories about people like us. Ko Archives came out of a desire to learn about our history and create something we could relate to.

赤痢 (Sekiri)

An all female punk band during the 80s. Originally formed in Kyoto when the girls were still in high school, they were considered pioneers of girl punk.

Ko Archives balances between a historical approach, iconic moments in time, social issues and feminist leaders and topics - is there a sort of mission statement behind the account; a message you really want to bring out to the world?

Thanks, that’s a great way to sum up what I do!

To be honest, there isn’t a single mission statement. Ko Archives is part of my learning experience and journey as a Japanese American woman who grew up between two cultures. I’m still learning, and my hope is that I can bring other people on that learning journey with me.

I guess if there’s anything I want to show, it’s the importance of telling our own stories. So much of our history is either told from an outsider perspective or not told at all. Telling our own stories allows us to take control of our narrative—past, present, and future. It also allows us to preserve our histories. You’d be surprised by how many people submit their own family photos, but know very little about the people in the photos, even when it’s someone only one or two generations before them.

How important are your readers and the content they send you for your output. Was the interaction with your audience always part of the account?

The community has always been so important to running Ko Archives. These days, I post a mix of content, but at the beginning, user submissions made up the majority of posts. I really love when people submit photos from their own family collections. To me, these are some of the best stories never told——the kind of stuff you can’t just find on the internet.

Mayumi with her GTR-R32 when she was 24 years old. She did street races in her 20s and is probably cooler than all of us. Source: @ko_archives

What are the untold stories and topics that you feel are still lacking in representation in Japan?

There are so many that it would be hard to even list them all. When it comes to historical narratives in Japan, pretty much everyone is underrepresented with the exception of cisgender Japanese men. In particular, I personally didn’t grow up hearing stories about the Japanese LGBTQIA+ community, the Ainu, the Ryukyuans, and Zainichi Koreans, to name a few. I should note that many of these groups do not identify as Japanese, but they’re part of Japanese history—so Japanese people must educate themselves on the historical oppression that took place. Yet, I still hear very few stories about these communities in the mainstream media. I’ve posted about them to some extent, but I also recognize how my view is limited by the fact that I’m coming from an outsider perspective—these aren’t communities I belong to. I’d love to see something similar to Ko Archives that documents these histories from the perspective of someone who is part of the community.

An Ainu woman (indigenous people of Hokkaido, Japan) feeding a bear cub circa 1955

Have you seen any social changes in Japan when it comes to awareness of issues like gender equality and feminism?

I do see changes, although they’re happening slowly. I think when we solely talk about Japan as this regressive monolith, we’re overlooking all the activists and people within Japan who are working hard for change.

That being said, I think we’re seeing something in Japan that’s really similar to what I see in the US. As issues like gender equality enter the mainstream, they’re also being used to check some boxes or market to people. Recently, I heard Ocean Vuong talk about how he values presence over representation, and that really resonated with me. Representation is focused on optics—so it’s about who is on the front-facing side of things. But presence is focused on who is behind the scenes and who has structural power.

November 1999 issue of “BURST," a Japanese subculture magazine that covered “taboo” topics such as sex, tattoos, drugs, and death. Source: @ko_archives

To give an example: If a brand does a campaign on gender equality and casts a diverse group of female models, but the brand execs, the director, the creatives, etc. are all men—then women may have representation, but they don’t have presence. They’re there on the visual side to give the impression of gender equality because it’s “in” right now, but they don’t necessarily have a voice or decision-making power. I think in Japan, we’re starting to get into the “representation” stage, but it’s still a struggle for women and historically marginalized groups to gain presence in historically male-dominated spaces. Representation is part of the equation, but it shouldn’t be the end goal.

What are the sources for you to gather information, especially for an English speaking audience?

Although I post in English most of the time, I do internet research in both Japanese and English. I find that a lot of the English information on Japanese history and culture on the internet aren’t written by Japanese people. One thing I try to do is to find things in Japanese and then post them in English, so information/stories by Japanese people can be more accessible to diasporic Japanese people. For example, I’ll post a Japanese tweet that’s trending and post an English translation so English speakers can see what Japanese people are saying about a certain issue.

Who are your role models that are actively changing or have changed Japan/JAPANESE society?

I try not to put people I don’t personally know on a pedestal, so to be honest, all my role models are people in my life. My number one role model is my mom. As someone who is mixed, she’s my connection to my Japanese roots and the reason that I want to see Japan change for the better. Other than that, I have so many incredible people in my community who are working on change through discussion, creativity, and simply being themselves in a society that isn’t always welcoming to that.

What are you doing besides KO Archives, and how do you keep up juggling between Ko Archives and your everyday job?

Besides Ko Archives, I’m a freelance copywriter, translator, and producer. It’s hard to juggle my work and personal projects, to be honest. I’m getting better at setting boundaries, though. While I try to be regular about posting on Ko Archives, I also try not to treat it as work. So if I’m feeling burnt out, I may not post as regularly, or if someone sends me a message that oversteps my boundaries, I don’t put pressure on myself to respond. Ultimately, Ko Archives has been a huge source of inspiration and community for me, so to have a platform on top of that is an honor. I still can’t believe that over 18,000 people are listening to what I have to say.

Pat Shiono, PhD

“Here’s one of me NIH Scientist in 1984. Those computers were state of the art back then. I was one of the original nerds."⁣

Do you think Ko Archives is one of the ways that you want to try to create a platform of representation?

Representation is part of it—but I’m also interested in how I can bridge Japan and the Japanese diaspora. I think it’s sad that many Japanese people don’t feel a strong connection with people of Japanese descent who were born abroad (unless they’re really good at sports, haha), and often don’t consider them Japanese. The word “Japanese”— “nihonjin”—has a very specific and limited definition in Japan. But I think it would be cool if we felt connected by this common thread. I like introducing my Japanese followers to Japanese diasporic stories, and I like showing my diasporic followers what’s going on here in Japan.

Junko Tabei

The first woman to reach summit of Mount Everest and the first woman to climb the highest peak on every continent.

Since you studied political studies before, has that somehow influenced you in kickstarting the whole Ko Archives project? Or do you see anything that you took from that time that is benefitting you now?

I definitely became much more socially aware from my studies. But the reason why I took on the major was because I had an inherent interest in political issues. I think I’d have started Ko Archives regardless though, since identity issues have always been interesting to me. Inherently, if you are a multicultural/mixed race person, identity is something you’re forced to think about more—there’s always the question of: Who am I? Where do I belong?

Hiroko Matsumoto

The first Japanese model of French couture and French designer Pierre Cardin's muse. Beyond just being a muse, Miss Hiroko was iconic for paving the way for other women who did not fit the conventional Eurocentric standards for couture.

What's next for KO Archives?

I’d love to do more collaborations in the future and to expand the project beyond just the digital sphere. If anyone wants to make something cool together — get in touch!

Thank you very much for your time!

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Words by Jasmina Mitrovic
Interview by Ami Takagi & Adrian Bianco
Imagery by Natsuki Ludwig
Graphic Design by Benjamin LeMar