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    “I spoke out because someone had to” Japan’s face of the #MeToo movement

    Synopsis

    Yamaguchi, a former Washington bureau chief for Tokyo Broadcasting System and someone considered close to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was acquitted of criminal charges.

    metoo-gettyGetty Images
    In a conservative country where rape and sexual harassment are hardly ever discussed, Ito created history by publicly accusing a veteran journalist of drugging her and raping her
    Three years before Indian media’s watershed #MeToo movement began, a similar ripple started in Japan, thanks to journalist Shiori Ito. In a conservative country where rape and sexual harassment are hardly ever discussed (10 rapes are reported for every million people), Ito created history by publicly accusing a veteran journalist, Noriyuki Yamaguchi, of drugging her and raping her. Yamaguchi, a former Washington bureau chief for Tokyo Broadcasting System and someone considered close to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, was acquitted of criminal charges. But Ito’s decision to speak out broke years of silence over a crime brushed all too easily under the carpet and led to the amendment of Japan’s century-old rape law. On the sidelines of the Global Investigative Journalists Network summit in Seoul recently, she spoke about her decision to fight back, and the issue of sexual harassment at work. Edited excerpts:

    What made you speak out about the rape, considering people in Japan just don’t?Because someone has to. Someone has to talk about it. Even I didn’t know what kind of society I was living in (earlier). I thought, when I went to the police station, when I called the rape crisis centre, they would help me. But I was shocked. Though Japan is such a modern country, there was literally no support. To address that, we have to talk about that immediately, and also try to change the law. because the topic is so taboo. My sister kept asking me, why does it have to be you. But someone has to highlight it or just to create a safe space where you can talk about these things.

    Was your family supportive of your decision?
    They had a difficult time, they never wanted me to do this -- to speak about it in public. They were also scared about what would happen to them because he (the accused, journalist Yamaguchi) is a very powerful person. It took time to start communicating with my family again but the #MeToo movement helped. It made them realise I was not the only one.

    Were there any changes made to the law, after you spoke out?
    It was not just because of me but yes, finally, after 110 years, they changed the rape law.. They changed the minimum jail sentence for rape from three years to five. Earlier, it was less than the sentence for burglary. The definition was also expanded but you still need to prove how much you were threatened and violated. And our age of consent still remains 13 years. It is really difficult to prove consent here. Next time (they change the law), they need to make it clear that only yes means yes. In Japanese culture, no is taken to mean ‘I like it’.

    Do you have adequate laws against sexual harassment at work? How rampant is the problem?
    At the time I spoke out, our deputy prime minister said there is no such thing as sexual harassment at work! One of the biggest newspapers in Japan conducted a survey asking whether women in Japan would say #MeToo and over 60% said they would. But the same number also said they couldn’t speak out because they were afraid of repercussions since there is no support. Without a law against it, you could lose your job. We really need a law to protect ourselves because otherwise, the men would just keep saying this is not a crime.


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