Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles I woke up with intense pain he was on top of me and yeah everything I guess start from there. My fight against legal system struggle and society and struggle to face this instant started. My name is Shiori Ito. This book is about my experience of rape. So "Black Box" is the word I often heard during the investigation and prosecution. Sex crime, well, the rape, sexual violence often happen behind doors and it's rare to find any witness. I am on doubt that there are some black boxes in our legal system. During the investigation as well. So I decided to use this word. Mr. Yamaguchi used to be a former bureau chief of TBS in Washington bureau. I emailed Mr. Yamaguchi whether there is any opening in the job, he said well there is opening for producers as well, and we decided meet up to discuss. That was on the night I met him after work. We were just eating and drink and at some point I felt quite dizzy. And I went to bathroom and that was the last moment that I remember from that night. It took me two days to tell even my best friend. It took me five days to go to police. My biggest struggle was that I couldn't remember how I had no idea how I got to the place, the hotel. And I never lost conscious after drinking. I couldn't think of him as a rapist right off. I was also respecting him. Unfortunately in this case never being prosecuted. Prosecutor dropped this case, but now we are in a civil court case. So we had a 110 year old rape law, it just changed in 2013 right after I spoke about this instance. And the victim, the survivor has to be the one to report to the police. We have to prove how much we fight back, how much we've been threatened. And one of the research from Sweden shows that when you have been sexually violated, 70% of victims have experienced frighten in a frozen status. It's quite difficult to ask especially if you're intoxicated, if you are a drunk. Only 4% of victim go to police and report. So... we know it's happening, but it's really rare to hear these cases. I was worried about my future, my family to make any changes. First we need to know what is going on and I felt that's my work. In 2017, in May 29th, I've decided to speak about my experience and (had a) press conference. Because I believe in journalism, I believe in speaking up. I believe in the story telling. The journalist I trusted, he said you should wear a white shirt and the jacket so you look decent. And I said, no way. I didn't want to be... to show the uniform of what victims should be or behave because we have daily life in and... of course, he was right. That was one of the reasons why I guess got a backlash. I got many names like bitch, prostitute. And maybe in this video as well. "Why is she wearing this, you know sleeveless clothes?" But look, we have done nothing wrong, and we should be behaving out of ourselves. I think there is always rape myth. That people have the rape, often happen in a dark street attack by a stranger. But actually 90% of the cases happens by someone you know. There is no concept of consent in our law and in general. There is saying in Japanese: "Yayo Yayo Moschino ji", "no no means yes" or "I like it." It's not written in our law. How (would) people know? There are some of the convenience stores decided to take down the pornography magazine but before it was so easy to reach in our daily life. Sometimes, rape has been used in these pornography as well. So in the place like Japan, we have such a lack of sex education, but we have so many sex content. I think, somehow we were always embedded with sexual assault in a daily life. I think I was about 10 years old. I was wearing bikini and there was this guy, (who) groped me in the swimming pool. I just froze and then once he was over I went to my parents and friends. My mother said that It's because I was wearing bikini, cute bikini. I know she was trying to ease me, but that shocked me that that was my fault because I wore a bikini. It continues especially I remember when I was wearing school uniform, especially on the public train. And so we just have to live with it? I felt very responsible that I never made noise about it. So when I come to this violence, which hurt me the most, I can't say one things. You have an advice, of course for the investigation wise it's better to go to police as soon as possible to get the physical evidence. But the the most important thing that I wish to say is, the survival is first. For me, to survive was to telling the truth, but for others, it's not the same. Maybe some of them is to just keep continue with their life for a while. People around you often tell you that you should forget about it. Just move on. For me, every day is still surviving. It still makes me cry, still makes me, you know, panic, till nowadays. Different places, different country has different issues, but I feel like a... Fundamentally, um... we are making documentary film in Africa in Sierra Leone about FGM. It's like a social pleasure that if you want to be a decent woman, you should be cut off your clitoris. One of Japanese University, one of female students say that, I feel like I've been mentally FGMed. Meaning that... in Japan as well, there is a certain way the society see women, how women should be. Shinjuku shows that the majority was male leader for the Black Box. Some of them was saying that they could never imagine what's the sexual violence is, but they can imagine what it is like to be under control by the power. I'm sure everyone must have experienced these things, in the school, in workplace, and family. I definitely see the change in media that there are now reporting in Japan and I hear more stories. Now the law has changed of course, but we need to change more. It's just we can't wait any hundred years more.
A2 rape bikini black box police wearing yamaguchi Shiori Ito, the Woman who Changes Japanese Law on Her Own 268 15 Zenn posted on 2019/09/10 More Share Save Report Video vocabulary