“It was my first Q&A straight after a screening and I could see the audiences’ emotions and how we connected – that was a whole new experience,” says Ito at the Mira Hotel, in Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui area.
Ito, 34, has a packed schedule as she takes the film on the road. But it is the date of this interview, April 4, that is symbolic: it was on this day, nine years earlier, that Ito says she was raped by TV journalist Noriyuki Yamaguchi in a hotel room after he invited the then Reuters intern to dinner to discuss a potential job.
Ito took the rare step of going public with the story in May 2017. The turmoil she felt as she decided whether to do so comes across loud and clear in the film. Also clear is the image of Japan’s patriarchal power structure. She is, after all, taking on a powerful man: Yamaguchi had close ties with the then-prime minister Shinzo Abe.
He touched her breast, tried to kiss her – then she was blamed afterwards
He touched her breast, tried to kiss her – then she was blamed afterwards
While her family has yet to see the film, Ito says they have grown more supportive.
“My family are happy that I was supported outside Japan, because they’ve seen horrible stuff on the internet.”
She was heavily trolled over the case. After one television appearance, she was criticised for not having her shirt buttoned all the way up when discussing rape. Scenes in the film show people outside court hurling abuse at her, much of the venom spat by women, something Ito struggles to comprehend.
“I don’t know why – maybe it’s a difficult topic to listen to and maybe they didn’t like the fact that I talked about it because they might not have had a chance to. But I feel that if I can share this in Japan with other women, then it might help others to open up more.”
Ito’s case made headlines because it is rare in Japan for rape victims to report the crime to the police. According to a 2017 government survey, only 4 per cent of women come forward.
Telling your own story, your own trauma, is really powerful. No one is telling my story and that has been really cool
Ito’s confidence was bolstered by the #MeToo movement that went viral in the wake of sexual-abuse allegations against Hollywood heavyweight Harvey Weinstein in October 2017, around the time of her book launch.
“It’s crazy but that personally helped,” she says. “The first few months after I went public, I felt so isolated – people didn’t understand why I would speak out about such a shameful thing. But when the #MeToo movement took off and I heard other people speaking up all over the world, that helped me a lot.”
She adds, however, that while the movement gained traction in countries such as South Korea and China, it failed to do so in Japan.
3 ex-soldiers in Japan found guilty of sexual assault in landmark case
3 ex-soldiers in Japan found guilty of sexual assault in landmark case
Consent, Ito says, is the biggest issue in Japan, although a long overdue reform was made in 2023 when the legal age of consent, previously just 13, among the world’s lowest, was raised to 16. It was the first change in Japan’s age of consent since 1907.
Other steps were taken in 2017 when Japan increased the minimum jail term for rapists from three to five years and widened the definition of sexual assault victims to include men for the first time.
But more needs to be done, Ito says. A lack of female representation in politics is problematic and part of a wider issue of gender disparity in the country, she says, citing a 2023 World Economic Forum report on gender equality that saw Japan ranked 125th out of 146 countries, a drop of nine positions from the previous year.
“In education and health, Japan ranks high, but when it comes to women in parliament, there’s a really small number making decisions,” she says.
While Ito prepares to embark on a world promotion of Black Box Diaries, the now freelance journalist – she majored in journalism and photography in New York before interning at Reuters – is also keen to get back to work.
“I have a passion for in-depth storytelling,” says Ito, who in 2018 co-founded Hanashi Films, a documentary film production company.
“I’m very ADHD [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder] so I like to talk to people and find out as much as I can about that person … I feel that being a journalist helped me do the prep work for documentary filmmaking.
“The last time I was in Hong Kong was to cover the 2019 protests,” she adds.
In 2019 she also reported on gender-based human rights in Sierra Leone and from the cocaine jungles of Peru, prompting questions over her safety. Ironically, it was Japan – a country painted as being safe with low crime – that she felt most scared.
One of the most confronting scenes in Black Box Diaries shows camera footage of Ito struggling to stand up as she emerges from a taxi and into Tokyo’s Sheraton Hotel, Yamaguchi by her side, attempting to prop her up. The hotel’s doorman, a key player in her case, can be seen in the footage.
“I’m willing to do anything to help you – nothing compares to the suffering you’ve endured,” the doorman says in a recording of a phone call that’s played in the film. Ito says those comforting words were much needed.
“I had been through many different s****y experiences, but just having that moment … that gave me hope,” she says.
Hope is something she wants to give other women – and she’s getting exposure to help make it happen: in 2020 she was included in Time’s list of the world’s most influential people.
“She has pushed other women to promote the #MeToo movement in Japan,” wrote Chizuko Ueno, chief director of the Women’s Action Network, in the magazine, “and sparked the national flower demonstration, a protest movement against sexual violence, where women simply gather together standing with flowers, telling their stories of victimisation.”
As a coping mechanism, she often takes herself out of the situation, viewing herself as a third person. Friends – and her pet cat – have also provided support, she says, when asked how she is coping mentally.
“I have amazing friends who, whenever I felt depressed, take me for a really spicy hotpot,” she says. “And my cat has been the best cheerleader.”
Having a platform to tell her story, in her words, has also been cathartic. As well as recorded conversations with police, the film comprises candid footage of Ito speaking directly into the camera, much like a personal diary.
“Telling your own story, your own trauma, is really powerful. No one is telling my story and that has been really cool.”
