| Birth Date: | 1975 |
| Birth Place: | Aichi Prefecture |
| Education: | Keio University Simon Fraser University |
| Occupation: | Journalist Media Scholar |
is a Japanese journalist and media scholar specialized in media literacy, gender and sexuality.[1] She had been a Senior Researcher and lecturer at Keio University Research Institute. Her research interest through nearly 20 years of career including as a TV news reporter has been the way of regulatory policy of obscene expressions. She has published research and provided media commentary on the topics of media communication and literacy of Japanese obscene content.
In 2017, Mayuko Watanabe was awarded a doctoral degree from Keio University and subsequently published a book based on her doctoral thesis. However, it was later revealed that a significant portion of the book consisted of unattributed quotations and plagiarized content. Similarly, her doctoral thesis was also found to be plagiarized. As a result, the publishing company Keisho Shobo discontinued the book and initiated a recall. In March 2018, Keio University revoked her doctoral degree.[2]
Watanabe works on the Japanese Government to apply a concept of "Dignity in Obscene Expression" to its regulatory policy. She has served as a lecturer of Internet moral education for Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and also as a lecturer of human rights for Ministry of Justice.[3]
Information and Communications Policy Review No.10 March 2015
Mayuko Watanabe has received prestigious awards as a director of Radio documentary Suicide of 16 years old boy- What did the bereaved family fight against?