Noriyuki Yamaguchi

Noriyuki Yamaguchi (山口 敬之, Yamaguchi Ito, born 1966) is a former Japanese journalist and biographer of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He is accused of raping Shiori Itō, who was an intern at Thomson Reuters. His denials and the police refusing to press rape charges against Yamaguchi sparked the Me too movement in Japan.[1]

Noriyuki Yamaguchi
山口 敬之
Born (1966-05-04) May 4, 1966
Tokyo, Japan
EducationKeio University
OccupationJournalist, Former Director of TBS Television, Think Tank visiting researcher
Years active1990 - present
Known forLosing civil case against Shiori Itō

History

Noriyuki Yamaguchi was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1966. He attended the Keio University Faculty of Economics. He later joined the Tokyo Broadcasting System Television (TBS Television) where was assigned to the news department as a photojournalist. His assignments overseas assignments included London, UK, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Washington, DC, US. After retiring, he appeared on TV programs such as TV Asahi and Fuji TV and on radio.[2][3]

Sexual assault litigation

Shiori Itō formally filed a suit against Yamaguchi in September 2017 for sexually assaulting her in a hotel on April 4, 2015.[4][5] Itō previously filed a police report in July 2016, although it was dropped by prosecutors for insufficient evidence.[5] Ito subsequently filed a complaint with Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution, but a September 2017 ruling did not charge Yamaguchi since "there was no common law basis to overturn."[5]

A Tokyo court in December 2019 awarded Itō 3.3 million yen (US$30,000) plus additional fees in damages from Yamaguchi, however he stated that he will appeal the decision.[6][5] (She had initially sought from Yamaguchi 11 million yen (US$100,000) in compensation.)[5][6] Yamaguchi denied the charges and filed a countersuit against Itō, seeking 130 million yen (US$1,180,000) in compensation, claiming the incident was consensual and the ensuing accusations has damaged his reputation,[5] although that suit was later turned down due to inconsistencies in his testimony.[6] This ruling has garnered international press due to the lack of reported sexual assaults in Japan and the amount of societal and legal crucibles Itō had to endure for speaking up.[4][5][6]

Disputes with Yoshinori Kobayashi

On January 24, 2019, Yamaguchi filed a civil suit against cartoonist Yoshinori Kobayashi. Yamaguchi stated that Kobayashi disseminated false information completely different from the facts in the manga Gomanism Declaration drawn by Kobayashi in the SAPIO magazine's August 2017 issue, where Yamaguchi was depicted as a criminal.[7]

References
  1. "Saying #MeToo in Japan". POLITICO. January 2, 2018. Archived from the original on January 6, 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  2. Richard Lloyd Parry (19 December 2019). "Noriyuki Yamaguchi: Abe's biographer raped junior colleague Shiori Ito in Japan's #MeToo case". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  3. David McNeill (22 December 2019). "High-profile rape case raises questions for Japanese society". Irish Times. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  4. Business, Julia Hollingsworth and Junko Ogura, CNN. "Japanese woman who accused prominent journalist of raping her wins civil case". CNN. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
  5. Osumi, Magdalena (2019-12-18). "Japan journalist Shiori Ito awarded ¥3.3 million in damages in high-profile rape case". The Japan Times Online. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
  6. "Japanese journalist wins damages in high-profile #MeToo rape case". South China Morning Post. 2019-12-18. Retrieved 2019-12-18.
  7. "Monthly Hanada April 2019", Asuka Shinsha, February 29, 2019, pp. 32-39.
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