When Japanese journalist Shiori Ito accused a prominent TV reporter of rape, becoming a rare high-profile #MeToo voice in her homeland, she was initially ignored by police, prosecutors ], and even much of the media.
Defying taboos, she investigated her own case, secretly recording phone calls and meetings, and compiling enough evidence to eventually win $30,000 in damages in a civil case that made headlines around the world.
That remarkable victory, which was followed last year by a toughening in Japan’s antiquated rape laws, is the subject of Black Box Diaries, a new film premiering at the Sundance festival, directed by Ito herself.
“It’s never the point of view of the victims and survivors when we see a TV program or a documentary or cinema,” she told AFP ahead of Saturday’s premiere. “So I just purely wanted to tell from the point (of view) of the survivor. What it really was. I didn’t want anyone else to tell my story.”
Ito alleged that Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a former TV journalist with close links to then-prime minister Shinzo Abe, raped her after inviting her to dinner to discuss a job opportunity in 2015.
Having initially told Ito there was insufficient evidence, police then told her they were going to arrest Yamaguchi – before suddenly backing off.
In the film, Ito records one cooperative police investigator telling her the order came from “higher-ups,” and that he had been taken off the case.
“At the very start, the reason why I started to document the conversations with police was just to protect myself,” said Ito. “If the system were working perfectly, I wouldn’t have to do this. I was happy if they just investigated, but it didn’t go like that. So I kept questioning.”
The film also tackles the backlash Ito faced after speaking out. It is rare for rape victims to report the crime to police in Japan – according to a 2017 government survey, only four percent of women come forward.
Ito received death threats and had to temporarily leave the country, while she said even her family “hated what I did” by speaking out. No criminal charges were ever brought, while Yamaguchi denied any wrongdoing and filed a countersuit against Ito.
But in 2022, Japan’s Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s ruling that Yamaguchi had sexually assaulted Ito. And last year, after nationwide rallies over a string of acquittals in rape cases, a bill was passed removing the need for prosecutors to prove victims were incapacitated by violence.
Japan’s age of consent was also raised from 13, among the world’s lowest, to 16 years old.
Even so, Ito – for whom the rape laws reform was “a big step” but “wasn’t enough” – is preparing to leave Japan again once the film emerges there.