Shiori Ito: Japan’s metao icon is ready for an Oscar

When Japanese journalist Shiori Ito decided to talk about her accusations of rape, she knew she was standing in front of a society that preferred silence.

“I’m afraid … but all I want to do is talk about the truth,” says Shiori in the opening scene of his Oscar Black Box Diaries Nominated Documents.

Shiori became the face of Japan’s Metao movement after accusing a prominent journalist Noriyuki Yamaguchi of rape.

His acclaimed debut as director, based on his memories of the same name, is a recount of his search for justice after the authorities considered that the evidence was insufficient to present criminal charges.

But there is a country where he has not yet played: Japan, where he has encountered great controversy. Her former lawyers have accused her of including audio and video images that she had no permission to use, what they say, has violated trust and put her sources at risk. Shiori defends what he did as necessary for the “public good.”

It is a surprising turn in a story that took over Japan when it first broke. The 28 -year -old Shiori ignored his family’s request to remain silent. And after his public accusation was not in a criminal case, he filed a civil lawsuit against Yamaguchi and won $ 30,000 (£ 22,917) in damages.

Shiori told the BBC that he made the film involve “reviving his trauma”: “He took me four years (making the movie) because I was emotionally fighting.”

She was an intern in Reuters News Agency in 2015, when she says that Yamaguchi invited her to discuss a job opportunity. He was the head of the Washington office for an important Japanese media firm, Tokyo Broadcasting System.

Shiori states that she was raped after a dinner in Tokyo with Yamaguchi, who has always denied the accusations.

The CCTV images of an intoxicated Shiori that are crawled from a taxi and in a hotel is part of the more than 400 hours of footage that he edited for the documentary.

The editing process, he says, was “really challenging. It was like a hardcore exposure therapy.”

When the film was released, CCTV images became a source of friction such as Shiori’s team of former lawyers, which helped her win her demand, the documentary criticized.

They affirmed that it was the unauthorized use of CCTV images, and that she had violated a promise of not using it outside the judicial procedures. .

Last week, his former lawyers, led by Yoko Nishihiro, held another press conference, saying that their use of images raised challenges for other cases of sexual assault.

“If the fact that evidence of the trial is known is known, we will not be able to obtain cooperation in future cases,” said Nishihiro.

Mrs. Nishihiro said that Shiori had also used unauthorized recordings, saying that she only found it in a screening of the film last July.

This included the audio of a police detective who finally acted as a complainant about the investigation process, as well as a video of a taxi driver who provided testimony about the night of the alleged violation. Both, the lawyers argued, were identifiable and neither had given their consent to appear in the film.

“I have been trying to protect her for eight and a half years, and I feel that I have been completely torn,” said Nishihiro.

“I want you to explain and be responsible.”

Shiori had previously recognized that he did not have the permission of the hotel to use the CCTV, but argued that this was “the only visual evidence” of the night he was sexually assaulted.

He added that including the police for the police detective was necessary due to “the cover -up of the investigation”, adding that he was launching the video “for the public good.”

“We are standing in different points of view,” he said about the consequences with his former lawyers.

“For me, (it is for the) public good. For them, it is ‘I do not break any rule’.”

There has not been an official explanation of why the film has not yet been distributed. Shiori has said that “Japan is not yet ready to talk (of you)”, but it is not clear how much of this is also due to legal obstacles.

In his last statement last week, Shiori apologized and said he would edit parts of the documentary again to ensure that people are not identified, and added that a written version would be projected in the future.

“There are times when I would not have to have to put (the documentary). There are moments that I am not proud, but I wanted to put everything and show that we are also human,” he told the BBC. “No one is perfect.”

In the nine years after the assault, Shiori’s struggle against Japan’s justice system has been well criticized in the media, and it is something that says he wanted to detail in his documentary.

He met with a reaction wave when it was made public in 2017, receiving hate and abuse mail.

“People told me that you are not crying enough … you are not wearing adequate clothes … you are too strong.”

Some criticized the way she was dressed in the press conference where she first accused Yamaguchi: they said her shirt had been buttoned too low. Shiori said he left Japan for a few months, fearing for his safety.

Shiori’s case was followed by other high profile cases. In 2023, former soldier Rina Gonoi also became public with her history, accusing three former soldiers of sexually assaulting her. This was the year in which Japan approved the historical laws to redefine the violation of “forced sexual relations” to “non -consensual sexual relations” and increased the age of consent from 13 to 16.

Gonoi finally won his case, but Shiori says it is proof that talking against sexual violence has a price, and added: “Is it worth going through this as a survivor who seeks justice? It shouldn’t be so. You have to sacrifice a lot.”

For now it is not clear if her movie will ever screened in Japan, but she says that her return home would be her final prize.

“This is my love letter to Japan. I really wish that one day I can project my movie, and my family can also see it,” he added.

“That is what I really expect … more than winning an Oscar.”