Black Box details the harrowing experience of sexual assault Shiori Itō faced as a young journalist in Japan, as well as the national reckoning that followed.\nIn 2017, Itō went public with the accusation that Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a prominent TV journalist in Japan, had raped her two years previously. But when Itō had gone to the police after the assault, she was told that her case was a “black box”: it had happened behind closed doors and was therefore unprosecutable.\nItō became aware of the alarming amount of black boxes built into legal and investigative systems in Japan, and the inaccessible economy around legal advice for victims of sexual assault and gender-based violence. From the attitude of investigators to the difficulties retrieving time-limited security camera footage, Itō’s experience navigates the labyrinthine expectations placed upon victims.\nUpon publication in 2017, Itō’s account was integral to the #MeToo movement in Japan and became a necessary catalyst for cultural and legal change. As international outlets covered every step of her story – documented in the BBC film Japan’s Secret Shame – her book launched a societal reckoning. At the end of 2019, Itō won a civil case against Yamaguchi.\nItō's personal story is the kernel of a searing journalistic exposé, exposing how Japan’s relatively low official rates of sexual assault mask a culture of victim-shaming and institutional failure on the part of the police, law and media to bring perpetrators to justice.

Black Box

Biographies & Memoirs

Ito, Shiori

Memoirs

Tilted Axis Press

Black Box&nbsp;is a riveting, sobering memoir that chronicles one woman's struggle for justice, calling for changes to an industry--and in society at large--to ensure that future victims of sexual assault can come forward without being&nbsp;silenced and humiliated. In 2015, an aspiring young journalist named Shiori Ito charged prominent reporter Noriyuki Yamaguchi with rape. After meeting up for drinks and networking, Ito remembers regaining consciousness in a hotel room while being assaulted. But when she went to the police, Ito was told that her case was a "black box"--untouchable and unprosecutable. Upon publication in 2017, Ito's searing account foregrounded the #MeToo movement in Japan and became the center of an urgent cultural and legal shift around recognizing sexual assault and gender-based violence. As international outlets covered every step of her story--even documenting it in the BBC filmJapan's Secret Shame--this book launched a societal reckoning. At the end of 2019, Ito won a civil case against Yamaguchi. With careful and quiet fury,&nbsp;Black Box&nbsp;recounts a broken system of repression and violence--but it also heralds the beginning of a new solidarity movement seeking a more equitable path toward justice.

Black Box: The Memoir That Sparked Japan’s #MeToo Movement

Community & Culture

The Feminist Press at CUNY

BLACK BOX (VO JAPONAIS)

BUNSHUN

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