Japan to Screen Shiori Ito’s #MeToo Documentary 'Black Box Diaries' in Tokyo After Oscar Nod

Japan to show landmark #MeToo documentary domestically for the first time

Japan will, for the first time, screen Black Box Diaries, the documentary by leading #MeToo campaigner Shiori Ito, at a single cinema in Tokyo starting in December, the film's publicist said.

The film, which documents Ito's account of sexual assault and her subsequent legal battle, was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at this year’s Academy Awards but did not win. Until now it had not been distributed in Japan amid objections from Ito’s former legal team over the use of video and audio material that had been secretly recorded or submitted for court.

Toei Advertising, acting as the film's publicist, said in an undated statement that "the version released in Japan has been finalised with some revisions and adjustments made based on feedback received from the parties involved." It remains unclear whether other cinemas around Japan will pick up the film.

"I hope this screening will help ignite conversations to protect the next person, and move society little by little," Ito said.

Lawyer Yoko Nishihiro, who represented Ito for more than eight years, said she was "completely shattered" after discovering that a secretly recorded phone conversation was included in the documentary. Nishihiro and her legal team also flagged other footage used without permission, including hotel CCTV that had been submitted in court. The lawyers have maintained the film was not "banned" for its subject matter but was withheld domestically because of these legal and privacy concerns.

Ito apologised for the inclusion of material that prompted the complaints and the filmmakers say they made revisions in response to the concerns raised.

Background and broader context

Ito alleges that former journalist Noriyuki Yamaguchi, who had ties to then–prime minister Shinzo Abe, raped her in 2015 after inviting her to dinner to discuss a job. She says police initially told her there was insufficient evidence, then indicated they planned to arrest Yamaguchi before abruptly backing away. In the documentary, Ito records a police investigator saying the instruction came from "higher-ups."

In a civil case in 2019 Ito was awarded $30,000 in damages. Her case helped spur a tightening of Japan's rape laws, though Ito and others note that Japan has not experienced the same large-scale #MeToo movement seen elsewhere. Government surveys show only a small proportion of rape victims report the crime to police, even as consultations at sexual violence support centres have increased.

This domestic screening marks a significant moment for a film that has already drawn international attention and debate about consent, legal process, privacy and the treatment of survivors in Japan.