Noriyuki Yamaguchi
山口 敬之
Born
Tokyo, Japan
EducationKeio University
Occupation(s)Journalist, former director of Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, think tank visiting researcher
Years active1990–present
Known forAuthoring a biography of Shinzo Abe
Political partyLiberal Democratic Party

Noriyuki Yamaguchi (山口 敬之, Yamaguchi Noriyuki, born 1966) is a former Japanese journalist and biographer of former 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]

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 where was assigned to the news department as a photojournalist. His overseas assignments included London, England, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Washington, DC, US. After retiring, he appeared on TV programs such as TV Asahi and Fuji TV and on the radio.[2][3]

On April 23, 2015, he was dismissed as Washington bureau chief and moved from the news bureau to the sales bureau. On May 30, 2016, he left TBS Television to become a visiting fellow at the East West Center, an American think tank, with journalists.[4]

According to Yamaguchi's Facebook account, he is now self-employed.[5]

Biographer for Shinzo Abe

Yamaguchi is the personal biographer for Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister of Japan. He published two books while Abe was still the incumbent prime minister.[6]

Works

  • America Invaded by China (中国に侵略されたアメリカ)[7]
  • Prime Minister (総理)[8]
  • Dark Fight (暗闘)[9]

Sexual assault litigation

Shiori Itō formally filed a suit against Yamaguchi in September 2017 for sexually assaulting her in a hotel on 4 April 2015.[10][11] Itō previously filed a police report in July 2016, although it was dropped by prosecutors for insufficient evidence.[11] Itaru Nakamura, a close confidant of both Prime Minister Abe and Yamaguchi and acting chief of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Investigative Division at the time, admitted in the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho to have halted the probe and arrest warrant.[12] 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."[11]

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 would appeal the decision.[13][11] (She had initially sought from Yamaguchi 11 million yen (US$100,000) in compensation.)[11][13] 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,[11] although that suit was later turned down due to inconsistencies in his testimony.[13] 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.[10][11][13]

The Japanese high court upheld the lower court ruling in favor of Itō ordering Yamaguchi to pay 3.3 million yen to her. The presiding judge concluded that Yamaguchi began sexual intercourse with an unconscious Itō. The court also ordered Itō to pay 550,000 yen to Yamaguchi for damages for defaming him by claiming in her book accusing him of giving her a date drug with no evidence. Both have appealed their rulings.[14] [15] The top court also ordered Ito to pay Yamaguchi 550,000 yen for defamation.[16]

Ito's book Black Box, talks about the alleged incident and her experiences that followed. An English translation of the book was published on July 13, 2021.[17]

Disputes with Yoshinori Kobayashi

On 24 January 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.[18]

References

  1. ↑ "Saying #MeToo in Japan". POLITICO. 2 January 2018. Archived from the original on 6 January 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. ↑ "Past Visiting Fellows". East-West Center. 28 July 2008. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  5. ↑ "Noroyuki Yamaguchi's Facebook". Facebook.com. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  6. ↑ Yamaguchi, Noriyuki. "Prime Minister (総理) and Dark Fight (暗闘)". Amazon.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  7. ↑ Yamaguchi, Noriyuki (30 July 2021). America Invaded by China (中国に侵略されたアメリカ) (in Japanese). ワック. ASIN 489831953X.
  8. ↑ Yamaguchi, Noriyuki (11 April 2017). "Prime Minister (総理)". Amazon.com (in Japanese). 幻冬舎. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  9. ↑ Yamaguchi, Noriyuki (26 January 2017). "Dark Fight (暗闘)". Amazon.com (in Japanese). 幻冬舎. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  10. 1 2 Julia Hollingsworth and Junko Ogura (18 December 2019). "Japanese woman who accused prominent journalist of raping her wins civil case". CNN. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Osumi, Magdalena (18 December 2019). "Japan journalist Shiori Ito awarded ¥3.3 million in damages in high-profile rape case". The Japan Times Online. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  12. ↑ Tomohiro Osaki (22 November 2017). "Lawmakers hold hearings into whether the rape case against the journalist was dropped due to Abe ties". The Japan Times. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  13. 1 2 3 4 "Japanese journalist wins damages in high-profile #MeToo rape case". South China Morning Post. 18 December 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  14. ↑ "Symbol of Japan #MeToo movement again awarded damages in rape case". Kyodo News. 25 January 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  15. ↑ Kazuhiro Toyama (7 February 2022). "Ex-TV reporter in rape case appeals high court ruling in favor of Shiori Ito". Mainichi Daily News. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  16. ↑ Kyodo (11 July 2022). "Top court upholds damages ruling in Japan's #MeToo symbol's rape case". Japan Today. Retrieved 11 July 2022.
  17. ↑ Black Box: The Memoir That Sparked Japan's #MeToo Movement. The Feminist Press at CUNY. 13 July 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2021 – via Amazon.com.
  18. ↑ "Monthly Hanada April 2019", Asuka Shinsha, 29 February 2019, pp. 32–39.
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