A film by a Japanese woman about her search for justice from uncooperative authorities after she reported being raped is a contender at Sunday’s Academy Awards. Yet, despite being the first full-length documentary made by a Japanese director ever nominated for an Oscar, the movie cannot be seen in her home country.
In the film, “Black Box Diaries,” the journalist Shiori Ito tells the story of what happened to her after she reported being raped at a hotel by a prominent television journalist and the ordeal she says she experienced with Japan’s justice system.
The film, which is up for best documentary feature, premiered in January 2024 at the Sundance Film Festival. It was released in U.S. theaters in October and can currently be seen or is slated to be shown in over 30 countries. However, those do not include Japan.
The Japanese subsidiary of a major streaming service declined to distribute the film in early 2024, the filmmakers said, and theaters have so far displayed little interest in showing it. The prospects for the film’s release grew even murkier in October when Ms. Ito’s former lawyers and other previous supporters, including fellow journalists, spoke up against her, saying she had used footage without the consent of people in it.
This is not the first time that Japan has balked at showing unflattering films that were well received in Hollywood. “The Cove,” a documentary about a dolphin hunt in the town of Taiji, and “Unbroken,” a feature film about cruel treatment of Allied prisoners during World War II, both opened at least a year after their U.S. premieres. “The Cove,” which was made by an American director, won the Oscar for best documentary feature in 2010.
Ms. Ito says that “Black Box Diaries” is running into resistance, despite having a Japanese director, because it shines a light on a topic normally kept in the shadows: how the legal system and society, more broadly, look unfavorably on women who come forward to say they were sexually assaulted.
“This film is not just about sexual violence. It’s about power, corruption and systemic problems,” Ms. Ito said. “I am making many people uncomfortable, that’s for sure.”
Ms. Ito, 35, has been a polarizing figure since she came forward in 2017 to say that she was raped while unconscious by the journalist Noriyuki Yamaguchi after an evening of drinking over dinner. Mr. Yamaguchi, who was the biographer of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, denied the charges, and a criminal case was dropped by prosecutors after two months.
Ms. Ito won a civil suit against him for damages in a ruling that was upheld by Japan’s Supreme Court.
The case made her a symbol of Japan’s still underdeveloped #MeToo movement, while critics have accused her of grandstanding to advance her career.
“There is a tendency in Japanese society to avoid talking about hot-button issues,” said Atsushi Funahashi, a film director. “I believe this film should become a catalyst to ensure that no woman ever has to go through this kind of painful experience again.”
The stress of all the attention appeared to take its toll on Ms. Ito. On Feb. 20, she canceled a Tokyo news conference at the last minute, citing medical reasons. A limited screening of an edited version of her film was also scrapped.
A group of lawyers, including those who had represented her in the civil suit, held their own news conference the same day to reiterate their concerns with the film. They said “Black Box Diaries” uses video and audio of a taxi driver, a police detective and one of the lawyers without those individuals’ permission.
They also faulted Ms. Ito for including footage of herself being dragged out of a taxi by Mr. Yamaguchi when they arrived at the hotel. The footage from a security camera was used without the hotel’s permission, said the lawyers, who demanded that it and other scenes be deleted or greatly altered.
“I must now speak out against someone whom I fought alongside for so many years,” one of the lawyers, Yoko Nishihiro, said. “How miserable is this.”
In a statement released after canceling her news conference, Ms. Ito apologized for “causing harm” by not obtaining consent and said she is making a modified version of the film “to ensure that individuals cannot be identified.”
At the same time, there are scenes that Ms. Ito and the film’s producers say they are unwilling to cut. One of these is the security camera footage from the hotel, which Ms. Ito said was “the only visual proof of the sexual assault.”
Eric Nyari, a producer of the film, said they were trying to negotiate a version of the film that could address the criticisms regarding privacy while still exposing what happened.
“There are certain areas where we are meeting concerns,” Mr. Nyari said, “but there are certain areas where we believe we’re in the right and we are not going to change.”
