Japan’s Secret Shame

upsetting and contains some strong language.

I met him in a bar.

I remember googling him afterwards,

and I saw him talking with Prime Ministers, so that surprised me.

I remember Mr Yamaguchi saying, "We are always looking for interns."

If I accuse someone like that, maybe I won't be able to work again.

This is my first time, that I go to court for my case.

I'm a little bit nervous.

If the guy decided to come, he would be there,

and this would be my first time to face this person

after these two years.

In 2015, 25-year-old Shiori Ito filed rape charges

against 48-year-old Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a prominent journalist

in Japan.

Today, more than two years later,

she is preparing for her first day in court.

In Japan, people rarely come forward with allegations of sexual assault.

Shiori is part of a tiny minority who take their cases to court.

In May 2017, Shiori shocked Japan when she went public

with rape allegations.

It polarised public opinion, and many just didn't believe her.

But for others, she has become a heroine.

Japan is a very sexual society.

You can go buy a sports newspaper at any kiosk,

and it will list where are the best places to get a blow job,

or who is doing the best sexual massage.

Any sexual service that you possibly want, you can buy in Japan.

But to talk about date rape, or sexual assault,

it is not something that is even on talk show fodder.

You don't see open discussions about that.

Rape is alleged in the UK 50 times more often than in Japan.

Some claim this shows how safe the country is for women.

But campaigners say it's because women are simply too scared

to come forward.

Despite being one of the most advanced nations in the world,

Japan's rape laws date back to 1907, and didn't change

for more than a century.

Until last year, the crime of rape in Japan

had a shorter minimum sentence than theft.

Shiori met Noriyuki Yamaguchi while she was studying journalism

in New York in 2013.

I think it was autumn.

The second year of my college.

I was supporting myself working at a bar.

He was with, I think, four or five different people, drinking.

It was quite shocking to meet someone very high profile,

and who has achieved what I want to do.

So I had so much respect.

Mr Yamaguchi was Washington bureau chief

for a Japanese broadcaster at the time.

He said, get in touch with me if you ever need something.

Motoko Rich investigated Shiori's allegations for over six months.

He's incredibly well-known in Japan.

Both because he was the Washington bureau chief

at a TV network that's one of a handful of TV networks

where people get their news.

On top of that, he was a biographer of Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister.

He was known to be relatively close to Mr Abe,

that he had spent a lot of time with him, had golfed with him.

The biography was very positive.

So, I think, a lot of the allegations

that there had been some political interference come from the closeness

of that relationship.

After they met, Shiori e-mailed Mr Yamaguchi about possible work

several times.

In March 2015, she contacted him from Tokyo to see if there were any

opportunities in Washington.

I e-mailed him saying, do you have any opening for interns?

And he said, "Of course.

"If it's interns, we're always looking for someone.

"But we also have a job opening for producer.

"Are you interested?"

I was like, I was so excited because, of course!

That's amazing.

Mr Yamaguchi told Shiori they would need to arrange a US work visa.

He suggested a meeting when he was in Tokyo the following month.

It was Friday night, so it was quite packed, I remember.

He was already eating and drinking at this small Kushiyaki place.

But he told me, this is not the place we were planning to eat.

Can you just, yeah, stay with me for a couple of drinks

and then we can go on.

And then we moved on to the next sushi restaurant.

He started pointing out all the places he knows.

"Oh, I've been there with, blah, blah, blah.

"Oh, I went... been there with blah, blah, blah."

OK, that's the ex-prime minister, or a very famous politician.

So I was like, "That's cool, that's great."

We arrived to a sushi place and we started ordering small sake.

I was sort of feeling a bit...

Uneasy. Started questioning, why am I here?

I thought we were going to discuss about a working visa.

That topic didn't come up.

We had this small bottle, and I remember he was ordering

the side one, so it's very small.

And then all of a sudden I started feeling very dizzy.

And I decided to go to the bathroom.

And then remember...

The last thing I remember was to rest my head on the water tank,

and that was all I remember that night.

Mr Yamaguchi maintains that Shiori was conscious

and gave full consent to everything that followed. But in fact,

there is no mention of consent in Japan's century old rape laws.

In this country, there's a different definition of what actually is rape.

There still is this sense that it is not criminal, unless it's a stranger

attacking you and you fight back and you are hurt.

And if it happens between two people who know each other,

it can't possibly be rape.

And if there's drink involved, that's really not rape either.

According to Japanese statutes, to prove rape it is necessary to show

the use of force or intimidation.

Research has shown that many victims simply freeze

when they are attacked.

Mr Yamaguchi has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct.

He has only given one public interview about the incident,

on a political chat show hosted by Kazuyoshi Hanada.

Shiori was helped out of the toilet by restaurant staff.

She and Mr Yamaguchi left in a taxi together.

What we now know from the testimony of the taxi driver,

she repeatedly asked him to take her to a train station,

because she wanted to get on a train to go home.

Mr Yamaguchi said, "Well, I don't think you can go by yourself.

"I have a hotel room. We still have something to talk about work."

And he directed the taxi driver to drive to his hotel.

The taxi driver said that he heard Shiori go silent

in the back-seat of car.

CCTV from the hotel shows Mr Yamaguchi getting Shiori

out of the taxi and propping her up, as they walked to the lifts.

Shiori has not been back to the hotel for over two years.

She is returning to see if she can piece together more

about what happened that night.

I think I just wanted to face it. I don't know, face what? But...

And I can already feel that my body is reacting.

It's the light I remember, you know?

This light.

Yeah, it's the same.

I woke up with this intense pain.

The first thing maybe I say was, itai, it hurts.

He didn't stop.

The only way I could get out was when I said,

"I have to go to the bathroom, I need to pee. Now!"

I remember seeing this small body wash towel,

all the men's cosmetics were placed very neatly.

And then I realised, I'm in a hotel room, where he is staying.

I was confused.

I didn't know what had happened, how I got there.

I tried to find my clothes and get my stuff and out,

but then he was standing in front of the bathroom door.

And he pushed me on the bed again.

I tried to fight, but he was quite strong.

I wasn't able to get any air, and he was on top of me,

on my head, and I couldn't breathe.

And I thought, this is it.

I'm going to die here.

It felt like I am pleasing him more saying, stop, please, in Japanese.

So I cursed at him in English.

I said, "Fuck off.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

In Japanese he said, "Ii gouka dayo"

So he said, "You've passed."

And I got panicked, like, what do you mean?

And then all the shame came on me.

Like...

I didn't...

I didn't... I didn't do this.

But I did. He did.

And I passed.

SHE BREATHES HEAVILY

Shiori suspects she may have been drugged.

But acknowledges she has no evidence as no drug test was administered.

Mr Yamaguchi says Shiori lost her memory

because she drank too much alcohol.

Mr Yamaguchi says that in his room Shiori was repeatedly sick,

and partially undressed and fell asleep.

He says that when she woke up she was sober, and apologised to him for

getting drunk. And that when they later had sex,

she was an active participant and showed no signs of resistance.

He says they parted the next morning on good terms

and that she e-mailed him initially without mentioning any assault.

Shiori denies that her e-mails implied she consented.

Shiori's case has become part of a growing debate

about traditional gender roles in Japan.

There is a sense in the culture that it's OK for a man to view women as

objects. You know, it's only very recently

that certain porn magazines are not visibly displayed

at these convenience stores where families go and buy milk

and eggs, and newspapers, and what have you.

There they are, displayed on the racks.

And some of these involve rape fantasies.

And there are men who are getting their sex education from them.

It's a common motif in Japanese erotica,

of the woman resisting and then the man imposing himself on her

and then she decides that, oh, she likes it.

I really wish I could go back and tell myself

what I should have done.

I didn't know. No-one told me.

Shiori called a rape crisis centre on the outskirts of Tokyo,

but they refused to give her any advice

unless she attended an interview in person.

At that time I felt like I couldn't even move out from bed.

And it was just scary to take public transportation by myself,