Shiori Ito’s viral sexual assault case has been closed. She made a film to solve it

Final shot Diaries of the black box— a burning documentary film, shot on the subject, Shiori Ito— seems, at first glance, quite routine. It’s a simple shot of Ito, surrounded by fellow reporters, typing away at a press conference in Tokyo for a public figure who has just been found guilty of sexual misconduct. But as a conclusion black box diaries, this portrait could hardly have more weight. A man making a statement Noriyuki Yamaguchi, essentially calling Ito a liar in front of his colleagues in the media. She successfully sued him after nearly five years of seeking justice for her claim that Yamaguchi raped her in a hotel room (a claim Yamaguchi denied).

“​​Being at the press conference, in the same room with him, was the ultimate revenge,” Ito tells me via Zoom. “That moment was a really big win for me, that I could stay there and let him know: I’m still there.”

It’s the perfect ending Diaries of the black box. Ito’s presence in the same room as her alleged assailant attests to her extraordinary courage as someone who started fighting big names in Japan before she turned 30. It’s also a testament to her skill as a director — someone who knows how to capture her, sometimes. an explosive, often devastating memoir with a touch of quiet, bittersweet triumph.

This is magic Diaries of the black box. In the film, Ito brings together nearly a decade of footage, experience and reporting, including some of the most poignantly personal moments I’ve seen on screen recently, to tell her own story of trauma, resilience and dogged investigation. (The film is a sequel to her 2017 book black box, (which takes its name from the prosecutor who told Ito that the alleged attack was an illegal “black box” because it happened in private.)

Little did Ito know when she began filming herself and her process that she would eventually turn this material into a film. By the time she turned off the camera, she had the bones of an incredibly intimate legal thriller documentary. She just needed to figure out how to collect them.

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In 2015, after inquiring about an internship, the 25-year-old Ito was invited to dinner with Yamaguchi, a well-known TV journalist and biographer of then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. She said she passed out after feeling dizzy, and when she woke up, she felt pain as Yamaguchi attacked her in the hotel room. She reported him, taking her case into the hands of the Japanese legal system, whose sexual assault laws were more than a century old at the time, and against a network of the country’s elite figures. Evidence quickly emerged to support her accusations: hotel surveillance cameras showed Yamaguchi pulling her, who appeared to be barely conscious, out of the taxi and supporting her as he entered the building. The taxi driver told police that Ito asked to be dropped off at the station, but Yamaguchi convinced him to drive to the hotel.

Other evidence would later emerge, documented in a vérité film. However, after a certain point, the investigation was mysteriously terminated. Ito still doesn’t know how it happened. The possibility of a conspiracy among the powerful still hangs in the air.

In any case, Ito did not give up. In 2017, she decided to go public with her case, an extraordinary step for an alleged assault victim in Japan, where anonymity is the overwhelming norm. She organized a press conference, outlined her rape claim against Yamaguti, and watched the press office fail to find the right equipment. “They were there when they couldn’t really grasp it,” Ito says now. The film begins with intrusive, quick shots of photographers and the shouts of inquisitive media; her profile is skyrocketing, even as the actual momentum of the case remains at a standstill. That same year, the prosecutor’s office confirmed that it would not pursue a criminal investigation, after which Ito began his own by filing a civil suit. “I realized that maybe I could do something about it,” she tells me.

The day before her allegations were made public, Ito recorded her first video diary for her iPhone. She knew that her life would never be the same. “It was for reasons of protection,” she now explains why she started filming. “I felt like if something happened to me, maybe I could leave something behind.” The process of documenting her daily routine sped up with the arrival of a producer Anna Aquiline, who offered Ito safe harbor in London before heading to Japan to collaborate with her on what at the time remained a rather amorphous documentary project.

One thing Ito knew: although she had no experience in filming, although she was the subject of the film, she needed to direct it herself. “Especially with stories about sexual violence, there are great movies that I’ve seen, but they’re always told in third person,” Ito says. “I just wanted to tell my story from my own point of view—not just as a filmmaker, but as a survivor…I wanted the audience to feel what was happening day-to-day. I couldn’t believe what I was going through.”

It captures the loneliness of a woman who goes forward with her truth but is met with resistance, hatred and indifference. It builds a strict procedure, guided by a rigid patriarchal system. At one point, the investigator, who seems to have finally won her over, suddenly — and with disturbing right — tries to woo her romantically. Things like this happened so regularly that Ito often forgot about them until she edited the film. “I think it was too shocking,” she says. “It really resonates with other sexual assault cases where you’re confronting and standing up to the authorities.”

If Ito’s meticulous investigation demonstrates a certain enduring bravery, the most palpable courage is displayed in the film itself. She films herself walking back to the hotel where she says the attack took place, which she believes was necessary to directly confront her case; she could barely sleep for days after that. She is subject to scrutiny and smear campaigns, and is gradually inspiring thousands of other women. Most importantly, there is a section in the film where Ito attempts to commit suicide. She took an iPhone video right after the event and had to watch it again before deciding whether to include it in the film.