The #MeToo storm that has swept large parts of the world with women rising up against sexual harassment and assault has been muted in Japan. But in recent weeks, this quietude has begun to give way to clamour, with a top bureaucrat, a pop star and a celebrity photographer being named, although not always shamed. The most high profile of these cases is that of Junichi Fukuda, the Finance Ministry bureaucrat, who is accused of sexually harassing a woman journalist. The reporter, who worked for Asahi TV, has recordings of Mr. Fukuda asking to kiss her and to touch her breast.
Mr. Fukuda has since resigned from his post, but denies the allegations. A smear campaign on Twitter has targeted the reporter, and senior political figures, including Tarō Asō, Japan’s Finance Minister, have suggested that Mr. Fukuda was led into a honey-trap. In the meantime, Tatsuya Yamaguchi (in picture), a pop star accused of forcibly kissing a woman fan whom he invited to his flat has had to quit his band, Tokio, and was fired by his agency. Also, Nobuyoshi Araki, one of Japan’s most celebrated erotic photographers, stands charged by KaoRi, his long-time model and muse, of financial and artistic exploitation, including being made to pose nude in front of other people. Mr. Araki has not commented publicly on the allegations.
Yet, even when stacked together, Japan’s #MeToo moment remains somewhat tepid, especially when compared to developments in neighbouring Korea. There, a string of explosive allegations levelled against dozens of men in politics, music, literature and academia over the past six months have brought down a former presidential hopeful, a Seoul mayoral candidate, and the country’s top poet.
Widespread problem
It is not as though the problem of sexual harassment is less widespread in Japan. A 2016 survey conducted by Japan’s Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry found that nearly a third of working women who participated, reported being sexually harassed on the job. Another 2015 government study revealed that more than two-thirds of rape and sexual assault victims say they have never discussed what happened to them at all, and only 4% have reported these crimes to police.
Explanations for this hesitation on the part of women range from deeply entrenched cultural values that advocate a “grin and bear it” attitude towards hardships, as well as widespread victim-shaming. Thus, for example, when reporter Shiro Ito, who is credited with being the first to use the #MeToo hashtag in Japan, accused a high-profile journalist of drugging and raping her, she was subject to vitriolic slurs and even death threats on social media. There are also wider problems with Japanese work culture. For example, journalists in Japan are expected to form close personal ties with sources, including by visiting them in their homes, often late at night.
Machiko Osawa, a labour economist at Japan Women’s University, believes that change, while slow, is taking place. As more women enter the ranks of middle management in the workplace, they are less likely to put up with male bullying and harassment. She also says a generational shift is seeing younger women who are unlikely to stay quiet. Yet, under present circumstances, it appears unlikely that #MeToo in Japan has the staying power to coalesce into the kind of substantial societal and workplace revolution that is needed. Japan ranked 114th in the World Economic Forum’s gender gap report for 2017, slipping from 111th a year earlier.
Pallavi Aiyar is an author and journalist based in Tokyo
