Cabinet ministers and other lawmakers on Tuesday questioned the Finance Ministry's handling of a probe into sexual harassment allegations made by female reporters against top bureaucrat Junichi Fukuda, after the ministry asked the reporters to come forward and speak to lawyers.
"It's a high hurdle for victims," said internal affairs minister Seiko Noda, who is also in charge of female empowerment. "The reality is that such sexual harassment victims cannot even share their experience with family members."
Noda, one of the few female ministers in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, asked Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga and Finance Minister Taro Aso, to deal with the issue carefully.