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Masanobu Ogura, left, Japan's minister in charge of women's empowerment and gender equality, tries on a pregnancy jacket with two male colleagues in April 2021.    © Kyodo
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ALICE FRENCH, RURIKA IMAHASHI and WATARU SUZUKI, Nikkei staff writers | Japan

TOKYO -- On a sunny day in Machida, western Tokyo, back in April 2021, a man in a suit was catching the attention of passersby. From underneath his dark, formal jacket, the unmistakable bulge of a pregnant belly was impossible to ignore.

His curious get-up attracted quite the crowd, and after delivering a stump speech and talking with supporters, the apparent medical miracle caught a train back to Japan's parliament building.

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