According to the United Nations, one in five Japanese women has experienced physical or emotional violence, verbal threats or sexual coercion in her lifetime. Even so, few domestic violence shelters exist in Japan. But thanks to Kotomi Hori, of Hokkaido, Japan, domestic violence victims have more help than ever before. In 1997 Kotomi helped open a support shelter for domestic violence victims, and the first shelter for battered women on the island of Hokkaido.

“The women who come to escape violence are truly brave, because they changed a terrible crisis into a new chance for life,” she says.

Kotomi is now the director of the shelter, and is working with law enforcement officials to change police officers’ attitudes toward domestic violence victims. “Male city and town officials couldn’t understand the dangers and fears experienced by these women, so it was up to us to explain the issues of domestic violence to them,” she states. In 2001, Kotomi’s work led to the creation of the first law to protect women in Japan from domestic violence.

Kotomi dreamed of a world where women are free from violence. She now helps domestic violence victims reclaim their lives and live their dreams.