(Tokyo) A court in Japan must deliver its verdict on Tuesday concerning three former soldiers tried for sexual violence in the Japanese army, a highly anticipated decision in a country where the global #metoo movement has found relatively little response until now .
Former soldier Rina Gonoi, 24, caused rare national awareness in Japan last year by loudly claiming to have been harassed and sexually assaulted by several colleagues.
Faced with the inaction of her hierarchy and the rejection of a first complaint before the courts, the young woman decided to make her situation public via social networks.
His online petition to demand a “fair investigation, sanctions and apology” quickly garnered more than 100,000 signatures.
Under pressure, the Ministry of Defense reopened the file and recognized that Mme Gonoi was telling the truth. The former soldier is now suing her alleged attackers and the Japanese state in civil court, seeking damages.
A criminal trial also opened this year against the three former soldiers accused of having mimed a sexual encounter with Mme Gonoi, forcibly holding her down with her legs spread, while other male colleagues watched and laughed.
The outcome of this trial is expected on Tuesday in Fukushima (north-eastern Japan). The prosecution requested two years in prison for the three accused.
Deep inequalities between men and women
Joining the Japan Self-Defense Forces was a childhood dream for Rina Gonoi. But she was severely disillusioned upon entering the army in 2020.
“When you walk down the hall, someone slaps you on the hip, or grabs you from behind. They kissed me on the cheek and grabbed my breasts,” she confided in an interview with AFP in early 2023.
Being forced to publicize her misfortune was a “last resort” solution, she explained, saying she was more “desperate than courageous”.
His revelations prompted many other victims to denounce incidents of sexual violence in the army.
However, it is very rare in Japan to see victims of such acts speak out, for fear of creating embarrassment, but also for fear of not being taken seriously and supported.
“Only 5% of rape victims in Japan report it to the police, who only agree to issue a report in about half of the cases, thus depriving the others of any possibility of legal action,” according to Machiko Osawa, researcher on gender inequality in Japan.
“It’s true that the #metoo movement was relatively slow to take hold in Japan […]. But the situation is gradually changing,” according to Teppei Kasai, an Asia manager for the NGO Human Rights Watch interviewed by AFP.
He cited as an example a legislative reform last June which clarified and expanded the definition of rape in the Japanese penal code, in order to facilitate legal action in the matter.
Another leading figure of #metoo in Japan is journalist Shiori Ito, who in 2019 won a civil case against her alleged rapist, Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a very influential former journalist. However, he was never criminally prosecuted.
Admired, but also defamed
Many Japanese women work, but few of them hold positions of responsibility, both in public institutions and in private companies and in politics.
Japan is also the G7 country where gender pay inequalities are the greatest.
On the other hand, Rina Gonoi is praised abroad: the BBC included her in its 2023 list of the 100 most influential women in the world, and she also appears in the latest annual list of rising personalities “100 Next” of the American magazine Time.
But the young woman also suffered a deluge of insults on Japanese social networks after her accusations.
“It’s hard,” she confided to AFP in early 2023. “There is something wrong in Japan: people are attacking the victims rather than the perpetrators.”