Tobata Women's Association

The Tobata Council of Women's Associations, commonly known as the Tobata Women's Association (TWA; Japanese: 戸畑婦人会, romanised: Tobata fujinkai), was a federation of civic groups based in the Tobata ward of Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Founded in March 1950, the organisation initiated a grassroots campaign against pollution in the city, the heart of one of Japan's major industrial zones, during the 1950s and 1960s. The campaign was rooted in independent scientific research; housewives would conduct experiments to measure pollution levels and identify their connection with human health impacts in their neighbourhoods. Their work would become identified with the slogan "We want our blue sky back" (青空がほしい, Aozora ga hoshii), the name of a widely-screened 8mm colour film produced by the TWA in 1965, and a series of reports published each year from 1965 to 1969. The campaign raised awareness of the harms of pollution, and spurred public–private co-operation to curb it in Kitakyushu, resulting in improvements to the city's environmental conditions. Amid growing societal consciousness of the issue, the TWA wound down its anti-pollution activities in 1970.