After Japanese journalist Shiori Itō became the victim of a sexual assault, she had every reason to remain quiet about the attack. Her alleged attacker, Noriyuki Yamaguchi, was a prominent television journalist closely identified with then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Japan’s antiquated laws made it next to impossible to prove a rape allegation unless a victim could show evidence of violent trauma. Further, as a journalist, Itō faced the reporter’s typical reluctance to become the focus of a story.
Despite the institutional forces arrayed against her, Itō pushed ahead, first by publishing a memoir in Japan and then by directing the documentary Black Box Diaries, a riveting account of her attempt to seek justice and accountability and perhaps change Japanese society in the process.
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The Oscar-contending film, winner of awards at CPH:DOX, Zurich Film Festival and San Francisco International Film Festival among many others, screened as part of Deadline’s virtual event series For the Love of Docs, with Itō taking part in a Q&A afterwards. Itō described coming up against the journalist’s instinct to remain an impartial observer of events with the necessity to advocate for herself in the documentary.
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“I struggled a lot because I have to be okay that I’m crossing the line, the important line as a journalist,” she said. “This film, of course, I had the background as a journalist, but I had to make it as a filmmaker, because it’s completely one-sided [storytelling]. And there were points that I felt like, oh, maybe I should interview Yamaguchi because we need both sides of the story. So, first I was panicking, how could I tell this story from my point of view? … It took some time, four years actually in editing. Once I was okay, once I made this film, yes, it was really empowering knowing that I had my own power to tell my own story.”
Working with Swedish-born, London-based producer Hanna Aqvilin over a period of years, Itō recorded what amounted to video diary entries which became an important visual element of the finished film.
“[We] came back to Japan to film together. And because behind the camera it was Hanna, I have to always speak to her in English, so that’s why I’m speaking to camera in English,” Itō explained. “But Hanna wasn’t a cameraman, she was a journalist, and she was a producer, so it was really like Filmmaking 101. So, we kind of make fun of the [shaky] camera movement, saying it’s ‘Hanna effect.’ But now we love it, it’s real. And because it was Hanna, I didn’t feel like someone is filming me. So, I think it worked out super well.”
The circumstances of Itō’s case at first made police virtually unwilling to investigate. She had gone to what she thought was a professional dinner with Yamaguchi but became inebriated as the dinner progressed. At Yamaguchi’s insistence, a driver took them to his hotel where he allegedly assaulted her while she was in a semi-conscious state and unable to fend off his attack. Despite being vilified on social media when she eventually went public with her allegations, Itō spurred a reevaluation of Japan’s laws that excused sexual assault if the victim didn’t display violent injury. Last year, the government changed the law to define rape as “non-consensual sexual intercourse” and it raised the age of consent from 13 to 16.
It’s difficult to imagine the change in the law happening without Itō’s willingness to share her story.
“It wasn’t, of course, just me. There are so many other women speaking, but I think certainly, yes, I had a chance to ignite the conversation,” she said, adding that she feels the law needs further clarification. “There is still no crystal-clear idea of consent in our law. So that’s still something I wish to open the conversation, discussion through delivering this film. So hopefully that will change in the near future.”
Watch the full conversation in the video above.
For the Love of Docs is a virtual Deadline event series presented by National Geographic. It continues with a new film screening each Tuesday through December 2. Next up: Frida, the documentary about Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, directed by Carla Gutiérrez.