Exclusive interview with #MeToo Shiori Ito: I'm not going after Yamaguchi, I'm going after the system

“How do I put it, the minute the sake was in front of her, she downed the whole drink.” While laughing with two other male hosts on Japan’s TV program, Mr.Yamaguchi added on “I'm not passing judgment, but I thought, 'She can really drink.'” He kept going: “She got herself drunk and was unable to get home. I had work to do back at the hotel. She did ask to be dropped off at the station, but would it have been right to drop a wasted person at the station? So I had no choice but to take her back to my hotel and rest .”——Japan's political TV Show: “To Ito Shiori: the truth reveals by Mr.Yamaguchi for the first time.”

On 29th December 2017, while Japan was celebrating the New Year's coming, across the globe, the New York Times posted a photo broke the festive atmosphere: A rangy Japanese woman standing in a dark rainy day, holding a translucent umbrella. She Broke Japan's Silence On Rape, wrote the title of the story. Her name is Ito Shiori, a 28-year old journalist who accused a prominent 51-year old journalist of rape in May 2017.

Picture originated from New York Times

Dated back to May 2017, Ito Shiori decided to publicly accuse Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a former Washington bureau chief of the Tokyo Broadcasting System, for raping her. Mr.Yamaguchi was not only one of the best-known television journalists, but also a biographer of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who he had been close to. After the biographyThe Prime Minister was published in 2016, Yamaguchi had also become more influential in the news industry of Japan.

Shortly after the rape took place in April 2015, Shiori took legal actions and filed criminal charges against Yamaguchi. However, the Japanese media paid little attention to the accusation. In 2016, the prosecutor dropped the charges for insufficient evidence of rape. No price was paid by Mr. Yamaguchi at all. He kept his job and instead of going low profiled, he remained active on both TV shows and opinion columns. About the same time when the #MeToo movement started growing rapidly in the States, Motoko Rich, the Tokyo bureau chief for the NY Times started a 6 months investigation on Shiori's case, the story she later revealed has shocked the world. And this time, Japan could not neglect this issue anymore.

I've read some news before meeting Ito Shiori in person. She was as pretty and elegant as she looked in the photos. However she looked different, not because she cut her hair short, but she looked more empowered, bright and confident.

After Ito publicly revealed her story in 2017, she had a hard time finding a position in Japan’s new industry. At that time, she received numerous backlashes, threats, and unfriendly looks from strangers on the streets. “I've anticipated these things to happened, but when it did happen, I was still sacred.” She shivered as she talked. “But again, I had to spoke out, or who else is going to do it?”

Going public and revealing herself did gain more credibility, this move she made also created a discursive space to openly discuss sexual violence. “I'm not going after Noriyuki Yamaguchi, I'm going after the system that protects the violators and silenced the survivors.”

We expressed our admiration for her bravery, Ito waved her hand and said no she was not doing anything heroic. “I wasn't thinking that much. At that time, all I could think of was one thing and one thing only: to survive the trauma.”

“For me, my survival is, to tell the truth. I can lose my job, but I can't lose my belief.”

There were prices for sticking to justice. For safety reasons, she has left her home country Japan and moved to Britain to start a new life as a freelance journalist.

Her proficiency in English promised a way to live independently outside the Japanese society. However, most of the survivors couldn't have the agency she had. How could they speak out their truth?

According to BBC, the numbers of rape allegations reported to police in the UK were 510 per million people, while the numbers were only 10 per million people in Japan. Some claimed it showed how safe the country is for women, but the campaigner said it's simply because women were too scared to come forward.

Japan's rape law remains the same since 1907

Japan's Rape Law dates back to 1907 and didn't change for more than a century. In Japan, there's a history of not considering violence against women as a serious social crime. Shiori told us that until last year, the crime of rape in Japan had a shorter minimum sentence than a crime of theft.

“In Japan, there's no such thing as sexual consent. ” She looked upset. “There's no 'consent' in the rape law and neither have we received this in our education. In our Japanese language,” she paused, “I don't know if you guys have it here. The saying of 'no means yes'.” We nodded. Lacking the idea of consent had stopped people from knowing the truth about rape. Rape could be conducted by acquaintances, friends, and even family members. However, people only recognize rape when one is violated by strangers. If a woman said she was raped by a person she knew, her accountability would be questioned, accused of lying or trying to profit from the scandal.

“Those beautiful women like Ito fails to sleep her way to a job. So be careful of falling prey to those women.” Said the TV show commentators.

Picture originated from the TV show 

In fact, victim-blaming remains a constant undercurrent. Rape and sexual assault survivors are often asked what they were wearing, what they did to “encourage” the perpetrator, or even why they didn’t fight back more.

“With this case, there were clear errors on her part as a woman. Such as, drinking that much in front of a man and blacked out. If you're working as a woman in the society, you should have learned to say no.” A Japanese Congresswoman Mio Sugita said to BBC.

Do you know the cost of speaking out?

Shiori met Yamaguchi in 2013 at a bar where she was working part-time to support her studying of journalism in New York. She had much respect for him for he had achieved what she wanted for herself. Yamaguchi seemed friendly and said she could contact him if she ever needed help or advise on work.

In March 2015, Shiori contacted Yamaguchi from Tokyo to see if there were any opportunities in Washington. He Said they had a job opening for producer and asked if she was interested. Of course, she was. Yamaguchi said they'll need to arrange a work visa for her and suggested a meeting in the following month.

It was a Friday night. They met up in a small izakaya, and later on, he invited Shiori to a high-end sushi restaurant, where he had been with the ex-Prime Minister and other influential people. They ordered small sake. From then Shiori started to feel uneasy and questioned herself why she was there. The working visa topic never came up. All of the sudden, she started to feel very dizzy. Shiori went to the toilet and rest her head on the sink, that was the last thing she could remember that night.

Shiori was held by the restaurant staff to get into the taxi with Mr. Yamaguchi. According to the testimony of the taxi driver, Shiori repeatedly asked him to take her to the train station. However, Mr. Yamaguchi refused and said she is too drunk, he had a hotel room and they still have work to discuss. Yamaguchi directed the taxi driver to the hotel. The taxi driver said he heard Shiori goes silent in the back of the car.

CCTV of the hotel showed Mr. Yamaguchi dragged Shiori out of the taxi and propped her up as they walked to the elevator.

In the BBC documentary, Shiori described the situation in the hotel. “I woke up with this internal pain. The first thing I said was 'it hurts'. He didn't stop. The only way I can get out is to tell him I need to go to the bathroom to pee, now.” She tried to find her clothes, but Yamaguchi pushed her onto the bed again. “I tried to fight, but he was quite strong. I wasn't able to get any air because he was on top of me. I couldn't breathe.” She said in tears, “I thought this is it. I'm gonna die here.”

When Yamaguchi finally stopped, he said to her, “you passed”, in an insulting tone.  All the sudden, Shiori felt all the shame came on her.

She was asked to display how she was violated in front of male police

Shiori went to the local police station and asked to speak to a female police officer. The desk sergeant said unless Shiori could give a concrete reason or no female police would be found. Standing in front of the desk, she was forced to say “I wish to make a complaint of rape” in front of all others. Finally, the desk sergeant relented and took her to an interview room.

What happened next was absurd. Shiori wrote it down in an article on BBC TWO. When the female officer arrived, Shiori immediately poured her heart out to tell the story of what had happened from the incident. She broke down several times. When she finally finished, the officer apologized and said she's only a traffic officer, her duties do not include taking her statement. Shiori would have to tell the whole story again to a sex crime officer – only male officers were available.

Shiori later found out that only 8% of police officers in Japan are female.

As part of the investigation, Shiori was told to lie on a mattress. Three male officers moved a life-size mannequin on top of her, taking photographs and asked her questions about exactly what happened. The whole investigation process treated her as if she was the suspect, yet all Mr.Yamaguchi has to do is to deny her account.

Her friends who knew the law better told her some investigation processes were illegal. To protect herself, she decided to record all her future investigations to analyze how the police were handling the case. “I had to treat this as a story I was following: I was seeking the truth as a journalist, detached and dispassionate. That is still the way I try to frame it in my mind.” She leaned in and asked us, “But I'm worried. Am I dealing this in the right way? Am I running away from my emotions?”

We had no answers. We only know it’s hard to go through the process of justice when the pain is unbearable. In 2016, the prosecutors decided there were not enough evidence to bring charges. “I don't blame them.” She said to us, “In fact, in the end, they started to realize the reality and difficulties survivors faced. But according to the law at that time, they could not proceed.”

To the survivors, the law system itself it's unfair. Although the criminal charges were dropped, Shiori thought she should proceed to make changes happen. She decided to press civil charges against Mr. Yamaguchi and exposed herself in court to the public to gain more credibility. On 27th May 2017, she went on court for the case for the first time. It drew a lot of media attention. It was also the first time a woman publicly accused a man of sexual assault in Japan's history.

On 8th June 2017, the Congress finally passed a law amendment to adjust the rape law for the first time since 1907. The shorter minimum sentence was now longer than theft, and the word “rape” was replaced with “sexual assault”. However, the use of force or intimidation were still elements of rape crime. The landscapes are improving slowly, and it will need more efforts and supports.

Next｜Exclusive interview with Shiori Ito: You must believe in your own truth

• 2015.03.20: Shiori emailed Mr. Yamaguchi asking if there were any opportunities for interns. Yamaguchi said there was a job opening for a producer, if she was interested, he could arrange a meeting to discuss work visa.
• 2015.04: Shiori was sexually violated by Mr. Yamaguchi the night they met for work discussion.
• 2015.04.18: Shiori sent an email to Mr. Yamaguchi, asked to talk about the incident. 2016: The prosecutors dropped the criminal charges.
• 2017.05.27: Shiori went public with the case of rape.
• 2017.06.08: The Congress finally passed a law amendment to adjust the rape law for the first time since 1907. The shorter minimum sentence was now longer than theft, and the word “rape” was replaced with “sexual assault”.

延伸閱讀：

專訪《寬宥之南》作者 Thordis Elva，性侵發生16年後，她與性侵她的人共寫一本書

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