1｜A slight sense of discomfort

One of the reasons I became interested in femtech was a menstrual cup that emerged from Korea in 2017.

It was a product called LooonCup, a menstrual cup with a built-in sensor that could detect leaks and measure internal body temperature.

The reason for my surprise was not so much technical as it was fundamental. The very idea of treating menstrual blood as "something to be measured" was new to me.

For a long time, menstruation has been treated as "unclean" in many parts of the world. In Japan, there were once places called "menstruation huts" where menstruating women were isolated. Even today, trash cans for sanitary products are called "waste receptacles."

Because it's "unclean," it's avoided. It's disposed of as trash and not recorded. No one ever thought to measure that blood.

The problem was not menstruation itself, but the layers of cultural and social preconceptions that had accumulated around it.

2｜The story of the structure

Menstruation has long been relegated to the "private sphere."
Little data has been accumulated, either by the medical community or by individuals.
Monthly bleeding amount. How many days it lasts. When it changes.

Simply marking "first day of period" on a calendar doesn't reveal much.

And this "invisibility" has often been used as grounds for judging something as "not abnormal." What isn't measured rarely makes it into medical discussions, workplace policy design, or policy debates.

Between these words, repeated countless times in examination rooms, the experiences of many people have quietly fallen through the cracks. It's not anyone's fault. It's the fault of a structure built on the premise that data "doesn't exist."

3｜The meaning of measurement

From a public health perspective, to treat something as a societal issue, a "baseline" is first required.

What is considered "normal" within a population? How much deviation from that should be seen as a "change"? There has been no standard for making such judgments regarding menstruation until now. The area squarely between "individual sensation" and "medical test values" has been left completely blank.

I believe Emm, originating from the UK, is gradually trying to fill that void from within the realm of everyday life.

Data is quietly recorded during the everyday act of using the cup. Daily bleeding amount. How quickly the cup fills. Cycle length. Monthly changes.

Little special effort is required. There's no need to open an app every day or continuously translate your sensations into words. The data measured close to your body is structured to be returned to you later.

There's another important design point to remember. Data transfer only occurs when the cup is out of the body and placed in its charging case. When it's inside the body, it doesn't communicate with the outside.

"Measurement" and "privacy" will be recurring themes for femtech moving forward. Emm's design already offers one answer to that question.

4｜This is what I think

I believe that measuring is not an act of control.

It's about being able to interact with your body at a slightly finer resolution. It's not data to fuel anxiety, but data to increase room for judgment.

Just that alone changes the quality of conversations with doctors, and the quality of self-dialogue, a little.

And another important thing is that "my data" doesn't end with just me.

If individual records accumulate, they will eventually become the basis for research, the blueprint for systems, and a reference for decisions in someone's examination room. The story of an individual's body and the story of societal structure are continuous.

Introducing a product like Emm to Japan has more meaning for us than just "selling a product." It's closer to the work of recontextualizing this "continuous part" within the Japanese context.

Japan's medical system. Working styles. Sex education in schools. Conversations at home.

What will change when the premise of "menstrual data exists" becomes commonplace in each of these areas? I believe discussions about social implementation begin there.

I perceive that the transformation technology is now weaving is how menstrual blood, once treated as "unclean," is quietly changing its form into "information" for discussing individual health.

5｜A quiet question

Once measurement becomes commonplace, what kind of relationship will we re-establish with our bodies?
How many stages will we be able to place between "not abnormal" and "healthy"?