Japan: Woman ex-soldier whose colleagues were convicted for sex assault on her reacts to verdict

Rina Gonoi, a former woman soldier of the Japanese military and a sexual assault survivor, said on Wedenesday (Dec 13) that the country's military would need sweeping changes in order to root out the problem of sexual harassment. A court in Japan held three male former soldiers, previously Rina Gonoi's colleagues, guilty of sexually assaulting her.

"I don't want to tear down the Self-Defence Forces, but it's exactly because I am so grateful to them that I want to see fundamental change," said Gonoi (24). She was speaking at a news conference in Japanese capital Tokyo.

It has been reported that Gonoi joined Japan Self-Defence Forces after childhood fascination with military life and after her evacuation bythe same force when earthquake struck Japan in March, 2011.

However, she said that she faced constant sexual harassment from her male colleagues after joiningSelf-Defence Forces.

The worst sexual assault against her took place in 2021 when three of her colleagues pinned her down on a bed and simulated a sex-act on her. Some of the other soldiers, who were among onlookers, laughed and no-one came to her aid.

Gonoi tried raising complaints up the chain of command in the forces and decided to leave the force after her complaints were ignored and no action was taken.

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In 2022, she went public with her accusations on YouTube. This is a rare move in conservative Japan where speaking about sexual assault is still a taboo.

"I didn't want to pretend it didn't happen," she said.

A rare apology

After her video struck a chord with the Japanese public and went viral,itfurther resulted in a rare apology from Japan's defence ministry and an investigation.

Shutaro Shibuya, Akito Sekine and Yusuke Kimezawa, the trio who sexually assaulted Rina Gonoi were sentenced to two years in prison by a court in Fukushima. However, the punishments would remain suspended for four years. The judge, while announcing the verdict, said that the convicts carried out a "despicable and malicious act" and ignored Rina Yonoi's dignity.

Yonoi's fight for justice wasn't easy. When she decided to go public, she broke a cultural taboo in Japan. She received online hate and even death threats after her video went viral.

"Some [online] would say 'you are ugly'...[others] would say 'are you actually a man?," she previously said as quoted by BBC.

The conviction of the male soldiers has come just months after Japan strengthened its laws to tackle cases of rape. In June this year, the country redefined rape and also expanded it so that greater number of situations related to the crime are covered. Previously, the survivor had to prove that they resisted the attacker. But this requirement has now beenremoved.

(With inputs from agencies)