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Shiori Ito, a journalist, who says was raped by a prominent TV newsman in 2015. AP

In patriarchal Japan, saying ‘Me Too’ can be risky for women

Speaking out often draws criticism rather than sympathy, even from other women.

JAPANESE WOMEN WHO say “Me too” do so at their own risk.

Online comments accused Rika Shiiki of lying and being a publicity hound when she tweeted that she lost business contracts after refusing to have sex with clients. Some said that by agreeing to dine with a man, she led him on.

“The comments I received were disproportionately negative,” the 20-year-old university student and entrepreneur told a TV talk show in December. “We need to create a society where we can speak up. Otherwise sexual harassment and other misconduct will persist forever.”

The #MeToo movement has not caught on in Japan, where speaking out often draws criticism rather than sympathy, even from other women.

In a patriarchal society where women have long taken the blame, many victims try to forget attacks and harassment instead of seeking support and justice, said Mari Miura, a political science professor at Sophia University in Tokyo.

“Japan lacks such a sisterhood,” she said.

It’s an exhausting and intimidating process…It’s quite natural that victims feel reluctant to speak up.

‘Looking too seductive’

One woman, journalist Shiori Ito, went public last year. She held a news conference after prosecutors decided not to press charges against a prominent TV newsman whom she had accused of raping her after he invited her to discuss job opportunities over dinner and drinks in 2015.

Many online comments criticised her for speaking out, looking too seductive and ruining the life of a prominent figure. Some women called her an embarrassment, she told The Associated Press.

The October release of Ito’s book Blackbox detailing her ordeal came as the #MeToo phenomenon was making headlines in America. It prompted some discussion in Japan, but only a handful of other women came forward.

“Many people think Shiori’s problem has nothing to do with them …and that’s why #MeToo isn’t growing in Japan,” said lawyer Yukiko Tsunoda, an expert on sex crimes. In Japan, sexually assaulted women are traditionally called “the flawed,” she said.

Nearly three quarters of rape victims said they had never told anyone, and just over 4 percent had gone to police, according to a 2015 government survey. The study found that one in 15 Japanese women had been raped or forced to have sex.

Victims often shy away from going to court out of fear, privacy concerns or losing jobs, Tsunoda said.

Gang-rape

Justice Ministry statistics show only one-third of rape cases go to court, and punishment is not severe. Of the 1,678 people tried for sexual assault in 2017, only 285, or 17 percent, were sentenced to prison for three years or longer.

In November, Yokohama prosecutors, without saying why, dropped the case against six students from a leading university who had been arrested for the alleged gang-rape of a teenage female student after getting her drunk. The university expelled three of them.

Popular writer Haruka Ito, who goes by the pen name Ha-Chu, was criticized after revealing in December that she had faced sexual and other harassment by a senior male employee when both worked at Dentsu, Japan’s largest advertising agency.

The alleged harasser, whom she identified by name, apologized in a statement and quit as head of his own company, though he denied the harassment was sexual.

Ha-chu said in a statement that she initially tried to endure and forget the ordeal, fearing that exposing it would hurt her image and cause problems for her former colleagues. After news of the journalist Ito’s case and the #MeToo movement, “I decided to speak out,” she said.

Conformist pressure in Japan discourages women from speaking out or saying “no” to many things, including unwanted sex, said Saori Ikeuchi, a former lawmaker and gender diversity activist.

That mindset has silenced virtually all of Japan’s so-called “comfort women,” who were sexually abused as prostitutes for the wartime military, while Japan has shown little sympathy to victims from Korea and elsewhere, she said.

Passed out in a restroom

Ito, the journalist, said that after she became dizzy and passed out in a restroom, her alleged attacker, Noriyuki Yamaguchi, took her to his hotel room and raped her while she was incapacitated.

The alleged assault was just the beginning of her ordeal, Ito said. The women’s clinic she visited the next day lacked expertise on rape, and a rape victim support center refused to give her advice on the phone. Police required her to recount the ordeal repeatedly and to demonstrate it with a life-sized doll, she said.

Ito said it took three weeks to get police to accept her criminal complaint and start investigating. She held a news conference in May, announcing that she had requested a court-appointed citizens’ panel to review the decision to drop the case. The inquest in September agreed with the decision not to indict.

Yamaguchi has denied any wrongdoing in published articles and on Facebook. Ito has filed a civil lawsuit against him, demanding 10 million yen ($93,000) in compensation for her suffering from the alleged rape, and seeking any clues as to why he was let go and never arrested.

“I thought about how I could change the situation, and I had no choice but to speak out about my experience,” she said.

Political officials

A group of opposition lawmakers has started its own investigation, seeking to find if the charges were dropped because of Yamaguchi’s connections to powerful political officials.

National Police Agency official Junichiro Kan told the lawmakers at a recent hearing that Ito’s case was properly handled. Police say they have tried to be more sensitive to the feelings of victims while guarding against wrongful accusations.

Mika Kobayashi, a rape victim, runs a self-help group that has exchanged thousands of #MeToo experiences, but only anonymously among themselves.

She said she was pushed into a car and raped on her way home in 2000. She reported the attack to police, but the attacker hasn’t been found. She has since published books about her recovery from the ordeal, to raise public awareness.

Her focus is on providing support and understanding for victims, rather than being an activist.

“I used to think of myself as someone hiding a big secret, a sex assault victim and unclean,” she said. “I’m so grateful I could connect with fellow victims. They gave me strength.”

The knowledge that others also blamed themselves and lost self-esteem has helped her to heal slowly, Kobayashi said.

“I think it’s also OK not to speak up,” she said. “I respect any decision that makes a victim feel most comfortable.”

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    Mute Maggie Corrigan
    Favourite Maggie Corrigan
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    Mar 4th 2018, 9:34 AM

    Ireland has an extremely low rate for prosecution of rape cases, very few people come forward, less get sentenced and less again get a lenght sentence for what is considered to be the second most violent crime in Irish statute books. These stories whilst horrific only distract us from harrowing regular occurrence that take place on our shores. Read the SAVI report, see that
    1 in 3 women are sexually assaulted in Ireland and 1 in 5 are raped and regularly these assaults are done by people they know. Worry about how your brother’s, fathers, nephews seek consent from women, rather than looking to a county far away that does messed up crap and point the finger while ignoring the nonsense in your own country, that you can help break down.

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    Mute Kal Ipers
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    Mar 4th 2018, 9:59 AM

    @Maggie Corrigan: Didn’t they also report 1 in 5 men have been sexually assaulted. If you consider rape a crime of violence you may also have to consider how men are often violently attacked. Not belittling rape just pointing out that men live with dangers often ignored with victim blaming a huge issue. Violence is a problem but putting extra emphasis on sexual violence may obscure and diminish the impact on all of society

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    Mute Steven Fitzpatrick
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    Mar 4th 2018, 10:11 AM

    @Maggie Corrigan: i agree with your sentiment, but 1 in 3, 1 in 5. Where did you pluck these numbers from? Exaggerating the problem is exactly why the #metoo is now just a pathetic fame seeking device which harms the real victims of abuse.

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    Mute Toomasu Sumitsu
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    Mar 4th 2018, 10:11 AM

    @Maggie Corrigan: making up statistics like 1 in 5 doesn’t help change the situation. It makes people doubt everything else you’re saying. Our justice system needs a compete overhaul as it’s not fit for purpose on prosecutions and sentences for all crimes, not just rape.

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    Mute Kal Ipers
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    Mar 4th 2018, 10:17 AM

    @Toomasu Sumitsu: I actually think the 1 in 3 is correct but it covers everything with sexual assault being any small interaction such as an unwanted touch on the arm.

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    Mute Jeffrey McMahon
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    Mar 4th 2018, 1:00 PM

    @Maggie Corrigan: genuine question, how could it be 1 in 3 or 1 in 5 here but only 1 in 15 in Japan which the article states as an incredibly patriarchal society with near no support for victims? Trying to get my head around how incidence can be proportionally higher here if we are more supportive.

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    Mute FlopFlipU
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    Mar 4th 2018, 8:08 AM

    I thought Japan had moved on past that carry on to the same extent as the western world ,not near good enough but would look down on rapists

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    Mute René Laurent
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    Mar 4th 2018, 8:24 AM

    I’ve visited 5-6 times and found that women are extremely safe and very well treated. I worked with lots of women in powerful positions. However there are strict gender roles that may seem unusual to western society. Like at a business meeting in a bar it’s common for girls in the group to top up your beer if it’s getting low. At the same time everyone is very respectful to each other and having a great time. Japan is so far ahead of western society in so many ways. Maybe the gender subjects don’t fit western leftist ideals but there’s no argument that their culture is beautiful and their people unique among the worlds 1st works nations.

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    Mute Billy Connelly
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    Mar 4th 2018, 8:34 AM

    @René Laurent: Japan it’s still a fundamentally misogynist country where rapists are rarely prosecuted and at best settle out of court. Of course Japan is far more advanced in other ways. Japan still largly shuns the Comfort Women from the war and raped women are often thought and treated as tainted. A change is needed in this multilayered society and thats the point.

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    Mute FlopFlipU
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    Mar 4th 2018, 8:39 AM

    @René Laurent: rapes don’t take place at high level meetings ,I would imagine .If the article is a fact and the women who are affected are looked down on by their fellow women I don’t know where to go from there

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    Mute John R
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    Mar 4th 2018, 8:39 AM

    @René Laurent: interesting perspective. However demanding equality for women is not “leftist”. Removing impunity for rape is not leftist either. The Japanese obsession with “face” is nothing to be admired. Embarrassment is to avoided at all costs. Shame appears to be a strong societal controlling factor. They need to evolve just like western society. Hopefully they can keep the best while losing the medieval shackles.

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    Mute J
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    Mar 4th 2018, 9:17 AM

    @René Laurent: still no chance of getting groped on a train then?

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    Mute Siobhan O' Carroll
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    Mar 4th 2018, 9:26 AM

    @J: Japan is 20 odd years behind the west. There is a quagmire of anomalies there re: women’s right to speak out and sexuality. I lived there for 15 years. There is very much a “ put up with it “ culture. It is so sad that there is no recognition of the scars that rape can leave. The women though have compounded the situation themselves by not speaking out against all gender inequalities within their society. They thought I was so strong ? I was normal but the strong bit may have been I voice my opinion. Love Japan fascinating place but advancement of women will never move like the west. ( I wish it would )

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    Mute Kevin Tyrrell
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    Mar 4th 2018, 9:27 AM

    @John R: maybe they should be let evolve on their own though. Why must we impose western cultural values on them? It’s their culture, not ours. Leave them to get on with it on their own. The Me too people constantly portray western culture as a patriarchy that must be changed yet on the other hand say it’s soooo much better than other cultures. Maybe it’s all a smokescreen and just women jumping on a big bandwagon…and crying because their Japanese sisters aren’t joining in droves. Feminism and Me too doesn’t isn’t as pure as the driven snow you know…there is a lot of misandry wrapped up in it too…maybe many Japanese women don’t want to get wrapped up with it for just that reason.

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    Mute Just2Comment
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    Mar 5th 2018, 8:33 AM

    @Kevin Tyrrell: Not ignoring the rest of your comment but the phrase “as pure as the driven snow” does not mean something is pure. It means the opposite in fact.

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    Mute Tony Dowling
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    Mar 4th 2018, 10:28 AM

    Very backward place in many ways. Woman are basically treated like dirt

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