A former local councillor in Japan has spoken out against sexism, after she was voted out of office after making sexual assault allegations against the mayor.
File photo. Photo: Patrick Foto/ 123rf
Shoko Arai was the only female councillor on the 12-member assembly in Kusatsu, a town northwest of Tokyo.
Last year she accused Mayor Nobutada Kuroiwa of sexually assaulting her in 2015.
He denied the allegations, branding them a political smear.
Arai, 51, was expelled from the assembly last week. Her ejection was prompted by a public referendum over whether she had damaged the reputation of Kusatsu, home to about 6200 people.
In a news conference yesterday, Arai said she stood by her allegations and would continue to fight for women's rights in Japan.
"We often in Japan hear the question of why the #Metoo movement has not gained further momentum," she said,
referencing the campaign against sexual harassment and abuse.
"But this is because we know that, in such a male-dominated society, an atmosphere is created in which it is difficult for women in weaker positions to speak up.
"They are instead crushed. This is what was indeed the case for me."
The result of last week's referendum has attracted international media attention and drawn criticism from women's rights groups, which have described Arai's removal as a setback for the #MeToo movement in Japan.
It is rare for women to go public with sexual assault and misconduct allegations in Japan.
A 2017 government survey showed that fewer than 4 per cent of alleged sexual assault victims come forward, according to Spring, a sexual assault survivors' organisation in Japan.
How has the mayor responded?
The 73-year-old mayor responded to the allegations in a news conference of his own on Monday.
"I can declare that I have never laid a finger on Shoko Arai," Kuroiwa said at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo.
Kuroiwa has filed a criminal complaint against Arai and is seeking defamation damages in a civil suit.
The mayor said the fact that Arai had not filed a complaint with police or launched a lawsuit proved her allegations were baseless.
Arai has previously said she did not go to the police at the time of the alleged assault because she feared a backlash.
- BBC
