Shiori Itō

In 2013 Itō attended a university in New York where she majored in journalism and photography. In 2015 she interned at Thomson Reuters where she wrote a couple of columns on Japanese society.[1] She is now a freelance journalist and filmmaker.

While interning at Thomson Reuters, Itō was at an izakaya in Ebisu, Shibuya with Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a prominent TV journalist and acquaintance of then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. She became intoxicated and was told to go back to the hotel where, she alleges, Yamaguchi raped her.[2] Yamaguchi denied the allegation, saying they had consensual intercourse. She said her experience with Japan's legal system showed her that victims of sex crimes were undermined and ignored. She called for the Japanese parliament to update Japan's laws regarding rape, which were over a century old. She explains how she could not get information on which hospital provides rape kits without going through a preliminary interview in person. When she went to the police, she was discouraged from filing a report, and informed her career would be ruined for no reason if she did this.[3] She was told she did not act like a victim, and had to be interviewed by several officers, including one who made her reenact the rape with a dummy while he took pictures.[3] Although they initially said they would arrest Yamaguchi, the case and charges were unexpectedly dropped. Itō then went to the media, but no one would take her story. When she spoke about the experience at a press conference, she made national news and immediately started receiving negative backlash, hate mail, and threats.[4][5] She has subsequently become the face of the Me Too movement in Japan.[3][4]

The journalist's move was called bold by many because of Japan's history when it comes to addressing issues such as rape. “Women journalists face severe consequences for raising their voice and we support Shiori’s move to approach this legally in one of the landmark cases in Japan and the world,” The Coalition For Women In Journalism's founding director, Kiran Nazish, said.[6]

Itō formally filed a suit against Yamaguchi in September 2017 for sexually assaulting her in a hotel on 4 April 2015.[7] Itō previously filed a police report in July 2016, although it was dropped by prosecutors for insufficient evidence.[7] Ito subsequently filed a complaint with Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution, but a September 2017 ruling did not charge Yamaguchi since "there was no common law basis to overturn."[7]

A Tokyo court in December 2019 awarded Itō 3.3 million yen (US$30,000) plus additional fees in damages from Yamaguchi, however he stated that he will appeal the decision[8][7] (she had initially sought from Yamaguchi 11 million yen (US$100,000) in compensation). [7][8] Yamaguchi denied the charges and filed a countersuit against Itō, seeking 130 million yen (US$1,180,000) in compensation, claiming the incident was consensual and the ensuing accusations has damaged his reputation,[7] although that suit was later turned down due to inconsistencies in his testimony.[8] This ruling has garnered international press due to the lack of reported sexual assaults in Japan and the amount of societal and legal crucibles Itō had to endure for speaking up.[3][7][8]

Her book Black Box, talks about the alleged incident and her experiences that followed. It was awarded the best journalism award by the Free Press Association of Japan in 2018.[7]

• Free Press Association of Japan- Freedom Of The Press Award (2018) for Black Box[9]
• New York Festivals- silver award (2018) for directing Undercover Asia: Lonely Deaths[10]
• Time 100 (2020) for her activism[11]