“I’d like people who watch the documentary to feel that we all have the power to tell a story. And I hope it empowers them to believe in themselves and reach out.” — Shiori Itō for The Guardian
Today’s blog post focuses on a film (based on a book, based on a true story) from Japan: Black Box Diaries. Black Box Diaries chronicles journalist Shiori Itō’s endeavor to investigate and report on her own rape, and the myriad bureaucratic hurdles she encountered – protecting assailants and keeping victims in the dark – otherwise known as “black boxes.”
In 2015, when Itō was a young journalism intern, she attended a networking meeting with famed TV news executive Noriyuki Yamaguchi, hoping to connect with the powerful industry leader and accelerate her nascent career. When she arrived at the meeting, she was uncomfortable to learn that it was in a bar. Throughout the meeting, Itō became inebriated and lost consciousness, eventually regaining consciousness in a hotel room with Yamaguchi, who was violently assaulting her. When Itō escaped Yamaguchi’s clutches (who aggressively berated her as she tried to leave) and later went to the police to report the crime, police officers asked her to reenact the rape using a life-size doll.
This fascinating (yet harrowing) documentary takes us through Itō’s multi-year experience: reeling from the emotional aftermath of the assault, navigating Japan’s criminal justice system (which often left her feeling re-traumatized), advocating for herself and the criminal processing of her case, becoming a trailblazer in Japan’s #MeToo movement, risking everything in her life (including the safety of her and her family) to break her silence and push for change, and suffering through the immense backlash of online hate, harassment, and victim-blaming. We see her being filmed in her apartment, working on her computer, and strategizing with a few, close confidants; we see her interviews with witnesses and other industry experts; and we hear audio recordings of phone calls as the camera pans over shots of Japanese office buildings, or drops of rain on a car window.
We also see a surveillance video from the night of the incident (which is played multiple times throughout the documentary) showing Yamaguchi dragging Itō out of a car, limp and visibly unconscious, while the car’s driver remains in the driver’s seat, and the hotel’s doorman stands idly by; the blank stare in Itō’s eyes when a police officer (who was otherwise an indispensable ally to Itō, providing her with crucial, inside information on the grounds that he remain anonymous) jokes with Itō on the phone that he should take her out on a date; and her immense cry of relief when the taxi driver tells her he will testify on her behalf, plagued by guilt over what he saw the night of the incident, and his inaction then.
Despite the compelling evidence in Itō’s case (including several eye witnesses, and a video recording, evidence that is rare in many other cases of sexual assault), Japanese police ultimately dismissed Itō’s case. As we learn, Yamaguchi was former prime minister Shinzo Abe’s close friend and even wrote a flattering biography about him. The acting head of the Tokyo police department at the time was also a close friend of Abe’s and Yamaguchi’s.
While criminal charges against Yamaguchi were dropped in 2017, Itō pursued a civil case against Yamaguchi, using her memoir Black Box (which was published in Japan that same year, shortly after the advent of the #MeToo movement in the U.S.) to garner media attention and generate public outrage. Itō also held a conference at the Foreign Correspondence Club of Japan, disclosing her full name and her face in the media, an unusually brave and generally unprecedented act in Japan, as most Japanese women do not report incidents of sexual assault.
According to What Happened After the “Black Box” Opened in Japan” We Will Never Be Silent by Human Rights Now attorney Kazuko Ito, “In Japan, people rarely come forward with sexual assault allegations. Feelings of shame and pressures to conform to societal norms mean that those who find themselves victims of sex-based crimes often suffer in silence.” Further, “Sexual harassment has been deeply embedded in business culture in Japan and associated with discrimination against women.” Because of a demanding workplace culture in Japan, and a lack of public support for working mothers, many women leave the workplace after having children. As such, most women in the workplace in Japan are relatively young or inexperienced, or part-time workers: “As leadership in business, politics, and media is occupied overwhelmingly by males, male culture is predominant in the workplace and female workers are the minority and marginalized. Under male domination, various types of sexual harassment against women, including both verbal and physical conduct, have become part of the culture in the workplace.”
Because of Japanese society’s focus on conformity, “It is hard for women to publicly denounce and criticize male behavior even if it constitutes sexual harassment, as it is seen as a challenge to the status quo.” Women who speak out against sexual harassment or report incidents of sexual harassment are viewed as “troublemakers,” disrupting the status quo and defying social and cultural norms: “There is a predominant discourse even among working women that it is necessary skill for professional working women to deal with sexual harassment in a ‘sophisticated manner,’ rather than fighting or denouncing it.” Further, “In the workplace, no effective mechanism to handle or investigate complaints exists to inquire into any alleged sexual harassment by the employer.”
In 2017, Japan’s national broadcaster NKH conducted a study on the understanding of consent in Japanese society: “Eating dinner alone as a couple was considered equivalent to consent by 11 percent of responders; wearing clothes that show a lot of skin, 23 percent; getting into a car together, 25 percent; drinking alone as a couple, 27 percent; and an alarming 35 percent of men considered getting drunk to be the equivalent to sexual consent.” Accordingly, “Decisions made on sexual violence in the judicial system reflect this sort of mind-set among men across Japanese society.” Indeed, in Itō’s case, she dined alone with Yamaguchi, entered a car with him, and was intoxicated, facts that would lead 35 percent of Japanese men (according to this study) to view Itō as consenting to sex.
Throughout these years, Itō received a barrage of online hate speech, including rape and death threats. In 2018, Mio Sugita, the ruling party LDP legislator, made public comments about Itō, stating, “In her case, there were clear errors on her part as a woman – drinking that much in front of a man and losing her memory.” Sugita also said, “If you’re working as a woman in society, you’ll be approached by people you don’t like. Being able to properly turn them down is one of your skills.” These comments reflect the findings from the NHK survey (whereby 35 percent of responders viewed intoxication as a manner of consent), as well as the overwhelming societal expectation that women deal with sexual harassment in a “sophisticated manner.” In January 2018, Itō wrote on Politico.eu, “There were arguments over my nationality, because a true Japanese woman wouldn’t speak about such ‘shameful’ things.”
While Itō’s activism was covered extensively by international media and by Japanese social media (generating the Japanese #WeToo movement, similar to the #MeToo movement happening elsewhere on the globe at the time), mainstream Japanese media remained silent about Itō’s story. In 2018, with #WeToo gaining traction in Japan, however, other high-profile cases emerged, and other Japanese women started speaking publicly about their experiences and naming their aggressors, with some of these stories even being reported on by mainstream Japanese media.
In 2019, as further evidence of the impact of Itō’s activism and the #WeToo movement on Japanese society, a court ordered Yamaguchi to pay Itō ¥3.3m in damages in a civil suit and dismissed Yamaguchi’s ¥130m countersuit. In 2022, a court also ordered Mio Sugita (who made the disparaging comments about Itō discussed above) to pay Itō ¥550,000 for engaging in hateful comments about her on Twitter.
Itō’s memoir Black Box was published in Japan in 2017, and in July 2021 in the U.S. Her documentary Black Box Diaries was released in October 2024 in the U.S., although it still has not been released in Japan. Yamaguchi continues to wield significant power in Japan, and has repeatedly denied these allegations, stating that his encounter with Itō was consensual. Since then, Itō has spent prolonged periods of time in the United Kingdom, attempting to escape the notoriety that followed her throughout her Japanese life after she went public with her allegations. She currently works as a freelance journalist and filmmaker, and in 2020, she was named in Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of the year.
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