The Anne brand mentioned in the essay.

Cameo (Japan & the U.K., 1960s-1970s?) Box, tampon, ad. It's the same as Ortex Gold and Anshin. (Tambrands gift, 1997)

Cellopon (Japan, 1968) Box, instructions, tampons. No applicator. With a discussion of the mutual influence of European and Japanese art & an example from Van Gogh. (Generous gift from Tambrands, 1997)

Elldy (Japan) tampon with finger cots (like Anne, above), box - ad in Junie magazine (October 1996) - instructions from 2011 a Hispanic woman in Japan sent.
Emil (Japan, 1974) box with tampons & instructions. (Gift from Tambrands)

Early Japanese ads for menstrual belts, part 1 (part 2, 3)
Japan influences England influences Japan: artist Aubrey Beardsley

CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
No, the tampon can't lostSome MUM site links: homepage | MUM address & What does MUM mean? | e-mail the museum | privacy on this site | who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! | the art of menstruation | artists (non-menstrual) | asbestos | belts | bidets | founder bio | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | books: menstruation and menopause (and reviews) | cats | company booklets for girls (mostly) directory | contraception and religion | costumes | menstrual cups | cup usage | dispensers | douches, pain, sprays | essay directory | extraction | facts-of-life booklets for girls | famous women in menstrual hygiene ads | FAQ | founder/director biography | gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux | humor | huts | links | masturbation | media coverage of MUM | menarche booklets for girls and parents | miscellaneous | museum future | Norwegian menstruation exhibit | odor | olor | pad directory | patent medicine | poetry directory | products, current | puberty booklets for girls and parents | religion | Religión y menstruación | your remedies for menstrual discomfort | menstrual products safety | science | Seguridad de productos para la menstruación | shame | slapping, menstrual | sponges | synchrony | tampon directory | early tampons | teen ads directory | tour of the former museum (video) | underpants & panties directory | videos, films directory | Words and expressions about menstruation | Would you stop menstruating if you could? | What did women do about menstruation in the past? | washable pads
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.


See the original Museum of Menstruation, a cartoon visit,
the museum's future, and reaction to it and this site.

The picture above I adapted from a design on a Japanese lacquer writing box,
about 1850-1900, at the Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art And Culture,
San Francisco, California.

The Origin of Menstrual Leave in Japan
Essay by Hiromi Mizuno
For Professor Sandra Lee Bartky
Pages 15-16, (first 2 pages & Introduction)




"The strong social feminism and spiritual motherhood feminism in Japan was not an accident. It was Japanese women's way of sustaining their tradition and integrating it into modern concepts of equality and liberty."



"[Menstruation leave was] the first right women themselves united for and gained. The more notable fact, however, is that those women broke a taboo, making menstruation a public issue. ... It was an outstanding achievement at the time."



"At no other point in Japanese history did people take...menstruation as a public issue. It was taboo to talk about anything related to women's physical functions."


"mensu"




"seiri"



"gekkei"





Before early 1960s, menstrual underwear was black, the color of taboo, death & impurity

"An-ne napkin"
[Curiously enough, "ane" in Japanese means "elder sister"– the sister who menstruates first? Does this square with the Anne Frank story advanced here?]



"[The] combination of of motherhood and menstruation in one legal provision  meant more than merely bringing the forbidden issue open and public" and united "pure sex" and "dirty sex."





Footnotes refer to publications listed on page 20.





















An-ne menstrual napkin: from the maker of Anne tampons
(below)?


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