A Tokyo court ruled Wednesday that Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a prominent journalist said to be very close to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, must pay ¥3.3 million plus additional fees in damages to freelance journalist Shiori Ito, in one of the most high-profile cases of the #MeToo movement in Japan.
Ito, 30, filed the suit with the Tokyo District Court in September 2017 against Yamaguchi, 53, a former Washington bureau chief for Tokyo Broadcasting System Television Inc., accusing him of sexually assaulting her at a Tokyo hotel on April 4, 2015.
Ito said she met Yamaguchi at a restaurant after he offered to help her find a job as a journalist, and that after dinner and a few drinks, Yamaguchi dragged her into his hotel room and raped her. She claims that she lost consciousness while they were at a sushi restaurant and woke up pinned down in Yamaguchi's bed. Ito has stressed that she tried to stop Yamaguchi.