Journalist in Japan's #MeToo movement sues cartoonist for defamation

Hasumi sounds like Japan's version of a professional alt-right troll

Hope Ito wins. Hasumi is an execrable person.

Isn't every political cartoon defamation?

No. But it's not about politics, and Ms. Ito is a private citizen, neither a political figure nor public official (to put another way, politicians in office are not so successful in defamation trial)

Filing a lawsuit seeking 5.5 million yen in damages takes a lot of money. I wonder who’s financing Ms Shiori’s litigation.

Nasty piece of work, that Hasumi. I remember the cartoon of the little refugee girl. Bile-raising racism.

Filing a lawsuit seeking 5.5 million yen in damages takes a lot of money. I wonder who’s financing Ms Shiori’s litigation.

Court fees are about 8000 Yen, for a case this value the lawyer will charge about 300,000 Yen upfront fee plus percentage if they win. I don’t think she needs outside financing.

This woman needs to get a thicker skin, how much money does she want exactly

This woman needs to get a thicker skin

Do you think that libel and slander laws are wrong, and that everybody needs a thicker skin? Or do you feel that this woman’s issue in particular doesn’t meet the level of slander, and is just a case of over sensitivity on Ito’s part?

In a country where few sexual assault victims come forward

I know of no country where that isn't true, so that sounds like Japan bashing.

Like it or not, Ito has become a public figure, I believe largely at her own doing, and there are those who don't believe her.

I find her case to be simply unprovable either way and I think people are just letting their bias be their guide.

Ito has plenty of supporters and because of that alone, she is going to have detractors. Can we not say or imply that we think someone is lying now? Yamaguchi was never even tried in criminal court, never found guilty and only lost in a civil case. Who here would support him if filed for slander against a cartoonist that depicted him as criminally guilty? Its just double standards again.

Yamaguchi was never even tried in criminal court, never found guilty and only lost in a civil case.

Yamaguchi was found guilty in a civil case.

Are you forgetting that he was found guilty? That a court decided he had done it?

you can not sue a cartoonist for making a joke get real

The whole sorry saga sadly is a reflection of Japan's oligarchical society still commanding it's version of rule of law.

Yamaguchi - best buddy of Abe - escaped any criminal due process to a miraculous no evidence finding, altho there exists clear evidence from eye witnesses (taxi driver) and ccv (hotel) showing Ito's condition / situation.

Yamaguchi was set to be arrested by police at Narita only to be called back seconds before by no other than the Chief of Tokyo Police Criminal Bureau, Itaru Nakamura - a "bestie" of chief cabinet secretary Suga and a "bestie wannabe" of Abe. It is widely recognized in the policing world that Nakamura was way out of line, way out of his normal jurisdiction. But in the cult world of ldp - all is possible.

So Shiori Ito - a real journalist worth her salt - decides she will not back down. She refused to take an out of court settlement (rumored to be worth BIG TIME) that was being pushed by the police, and instead decided to fight against the injustice of it all.

She has suffered, her family has suffered as have those around her. She didn't take the money and run - that'd be too easy - because she has a conscience and she saw the need to make a stand for women everywhere against a mocking, misogynistic system that demeans half of society.

The cartoon is just another attempt to de-legitimatize her struggle.

Ito needs the open support of the media to give voice to this 21stC stain.

you can not sue a cartoonist for making a joke get real

Ever? This is an honest question. For example, let's say I write something slanderous, like claiming someone I know stole money from me even though they didn't. Something clearly slanderous, that I would be found guilty in a court of law for.

If I were to instead draw pictures, and use that text in a cartoon, would I be indemnified from slander laws as a result?

And if so, what would it be about the act of adding drawings that would remove liability for the slanderous speech?

I know this is one example, but it is not surprising for these cartoons to be drawn by another woman. It is wrong to assume that all other women on Ito's side or the side of any women working for female advancement. In Japan, a woman who "dedicates myself to my family" does not work. Mothers who work are not allowed to say the same thing, in fact it is quite common to view working women as selfish and bad mothers. This lack of solidarity is a huge obstacle to progress for women in Japan.

Sometimes I wish Japanese were more litigious like this, and the punishments far, FAR more severe. 5.5 million is not enough, when these publications make a mint, and then far more after the infamy when the trials spread word of the work. It should be 5M dollars worth, and the people responsible fired immediately. Hasumi is the reason why Japan is known as being bigoted in particular towards its Asian neighbors, and the equivalent of a white supremacist in the US or Europe.

Claiming someone is lying about having been raped is not a joke. It’s simply a claim. And in this case, it’s a false claim. Given that there was physical evidence that Shiori was raped and that a court of law agreed, a case that is hard to win, this cannot be looked at as merely a he said, she said. And Shiori’s life inside Japan was made impossible for speaking out, not something she would have done for kicks. And if you’ve bothered to hear her speak, you’d know that.

It’s in no way merely Japan bashing to stress that few sexual assault victims come forward in Japan. Japan does not even legally recognize many instances of rape or the concept of consent, and Japan routinely ranks toward the bottom of all nations in the rights of women.

‘The district court last December ordered Yamaguchi, a biographer of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, to pay 3.3 million yen in damages to Ito, recognizing he "had sexual intercourse without the consent of Ito, who was in a state of intoxication and unconscious’

Correct me if I’m naive and incorrect but is that not rape ???

Victim-blaming. 99.99% of rape + assault accusations are real. Quit shoving it under the rug.

Yamaguchi was found guilty in a civil case.

> Are you forgetting that he was found guilty? That a court decided he had done it?

Not to defend him, but there actually is a significant difference there. A civil court doesn't find you guilty, it finds you liable. The standard is quite different. For guilt in a criminal case, the burden of proof is "beyond a reasonable doubt", which is quite high. In a civil case it is a much lower "balance of probability" which is much easier to meet.

So the court in that case didn't find that he did it beyond a reasonable doubt, it just found that it is more likely that he did it than it is that he didn't do it.

I frown at this lawsuit.

Given that there was physical evidence that Shiori was raped and that a court of law agreed

Consider the consequences of what you said - once the judicial authorities have decided something, no one in the country can take the alternate position in public without a serious risk of it being defamation.

If the judge had found Yamaguchi NOT liable, then should Shiori be barred from saying anything about the case, because that would clearly be defaming an innocent man?

If not, then we have to accept that both ways. The judgment may settle it as a matter of law, but citizens and media must be allowed their alternate interpretations.

About the "MeToo" movements, actually who is the victim? I dont think Miss Ito suffered so much !

About the "MeToo" movements, actually who is the victim? I dont think Miss Ito suffered so much !

You don't think a person who was raped suffered too much?

Filing a lawsuit seeking 5.5 million yen in damages takes a lot of money. I wonder who’s financing Ms Shiori’s litigation.

I wonder why you wonder who is financing it? I presume you are raising the question to suggest some ulterior motive, perhaps the subjugation of all men under the rule of Japanese femi-Nazis or some such nonsense.

Christopher Pelman:

Claiming someone is lying about having been raped is not a joke.

So is a false rape claim.

Kazuaki, even if Yamaguchi been found not liable, Ito would still have the legal right to claim she had been sexually assaulted. At any time, Yamaguchi could sue her and try to convince a court that she was lying with malice.

in this case, Ito passed out, whether from a date rape drug or drinking we do not know because the police refused to test her. Therefore, it is absurd and highly highly creepy and suspicious that Yamaguchi took her, an unconscious intern seeking a job, to a hotel. Someone unconscious, or even nearly so, cannot give consent. Therefore, any sexual activity would be assault.

I do believes Miss ITO is a sex violence victim! But she must know Yamaguchi's intention before hangout with him! So that is not a rape, she want to stop the sexual intercourse but Yamaguchi failed to stop! She does want to have sex for a career promotion in the first place!