Black Box

The Memoir That Sparked Japan’s #MeToo Movement

De: Shiori Itō, Allison Markin Powell - translator

Narrado por: Emily Woo Zeller

Black Box 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 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 film Japan’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, Black Box 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.

©2017 Shiori Ito. English translation © 2021 by Allison Markin Powell. Original Japanese edition published by Bungeishunju Ltd., Japan, in 2017 (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

A hero

Silence doesn’t bring peace.

I first got to know about the book thanks to Chiaki Mitama interview on AniFem com

https://www.animefeminist.com/opening-up-the-black-box-diaries-with-ito-shiori/

I knew about the revised laws regarding sexual rights and women anatomy and was relived when I heard about them, but didn’t knew the catalyst until I read Black Box.

No matter how many times I tried to shape this review, one thing remained unchanged:
Shiori Ito is a hero.

She didn’t just stand for herself and other victims, but went head on facing a stern patriarchal system that benefited from the victims silence and the flawed legality that ensured their rights and dignity.

To tackle it all and in the public eye isn’t an easy matter, and rarely end well. Still, it didn’t deter her, but only made her as ferocious as the odds against her.

It takes a woman to create great changes, and Shiroi is the very embodiment of that truth.

The fight for true equality is unending and strife ridden, but every little victory is a step forward for a better future.

I can’t thank her enough.