Tokyo journalist
Getty ImagesShiori Ito, a journalist from Japan, was aware of the prejudices of a nation that favored silence when she made the decision to expose her rape allegations.
” I’m scared…but all I want to do is to talk about the truth”, Shiori says in the beginning scene of her Oscar-nominated film Black Box Diaries.
After accusing a well-known blogger Noriyuki Yamaguchi of murder, Shiori became the experience of Japan’s MeToo activity.
Her praised directorial debut, which is based on her narrative of the same name, tells the story of her unsuccessful legal fight for justice after the proof was dissuaded from the prosecution.
But there is one state where it is still to sing: Japan, where it has run into large discussion. Her original attorneys accuse her of including audio and video images that she did not have permission to use, which they claim has violated faith and put her publications in danger. Shiori defends what she did, calling it essential for the “public good.”
The then-28-year-old Shiori, who was then known as” the girl who dominated Japan when it first broke,” refused to answer her mother’s ask to be silent. And after her public accusation did not result in a criminal case, she filed a civil lawsuit against Yamaguchi and won$ 30, 000 ( £22, 917 ) in damages.
Shiori told the BBC making the film involved “reliving her trauma”:” It took me four years]to make the film ] because physically I was struggling”.
She claims that Yamaguchi invited her to explore a career option while she was an apprentice at the Reuters news company in 2015. He oversaw the Washington ministry of Tokyo Broadcasting System, a significant Chinese media company.
Shiori says she was raped following a meal in Tokyo with Yamaguchi, who has always denied the allegations.
The more than 400 days of film she edited for the video includes CCTV footage of a drunken Shiori being dragged from a car and into a guesthouse.
Getty ImagesThe processing operation, she says, was “really challenging. It was like extreme contact therapy”.
When the movie was released, the CCTV images became a source of friction as Shiori’s group of ex-lawyers, who helped her gain her complaint, slammed the video.
They claimed she had violated a promise to refrain from using CCTV footage while awaiting judge orders and that it was an unlawful usage.
Her original lawyers, led by Yoko Nishihiro, held a press conference last week, claiming that her use of the film presented challenges for various sexual assault cases.
” We will not be able to get participation in future cases,” said Ms. Nishihiro, “if the fact that the evidence from the prosecution has been made open is known.”
Shiori also admitted to using illegal recordings, saying that she only learned of this at a movie testing in July.
This included sound of a police detective who later served as a whistleblower during the investigation, as well as a video of a cab driver who testified about the alleged rape on the night of the reported rape. According to the attorneys, neither of them could be identified and neither had consented to get featured in the movie.
” I’ve been trying so hard to defend her for eight-and-half times, and I feel like I’ve been entirely torn apart”, Ms Nishihiro said.
” I want her to describe and been held guilty”.
Shiori had previously stated that she had the hotel’s consent to use the CCTV, but that this was” the only visual evidence” that the two of them had at the time of the sexual assault.
She continued, adding that because of” the cover-up of the investigation,” she felt the need to include the police detective’s audio. She added that she was making the video” for the public good.”
She described the conflict with her past legal team as” we are standing in different points of view.”
” For me, ]it’s for the] public good. For them, it’s’ do not break any rules ‘”.
The film’s lack of distribution has not yet been officially explained. Although Shiori asserted that” Japan is also unwilling to talk about [it],” it’s not clear how much of it is caused by constitutional issues.
In her most recent speech, Shiori apologized and said she would re-edit portions of the film to prevent people from being identified. She also stated that a redacted version may be screened moving forward.
” There are events I wish I didn’t have to put in]the documentary]. There are times when I’m not proud, but I wanted to put everything that to show that we’re all human, she said. ” No-one is perfect”.
In the nine times since the rape, Shiori’s struggle against Japan’s justice program has been well-chronicled in the press- and is something she says she wanted to information in her video.
When she went people in 2017, receiving love email and website abuse, she was met with a flood of reaction.
” People were telling me you’re not crying enough … you’re not wearing proper clothes… you’re too strong”.
Some people criticized her attire at the press event where she first accused Yamaguchi, claiming that her clothing had been buttoned to low down. Shiori said she left Japan for a few weeks, fearing for her protection.
Shiori’s event was followed by another high-profile situations. Rina Gonoi, a former man, also made headlines in her account in 2023 when she accused three former soldiers of sexual assault on her. This year saw the passage of location laws that increased the consent age from 13 to 16 and redefined rape to contain “non-consensual sexual intercourse.”
Although Gonoi ultimately prevailed in her case, Shiori contends that speaking out against sexual assault has a price, adding,” Is it worthwhile to go through this as a victim seeking justice?” It shouldn’t be this approach. You must make a lot of sacrifices.
Although it’s not known if her video will ever be shown in Japan, she claims that her most reward would be her homecoming.
” This is my love letter to Japan. She continued,” I really want my family could see my movie on television one moment.”
” That’s what I really hope for… more than winning an Oscar”.