On May 1st, we’re pleased to host Shiori Itō, director of the Academy Award nominated film “Black Box Diaries”. This movie offers both a look at the start of the #MeToo movement in Japan and represents Itō’s directorial debut by depicting her investigation of the sexual violence she experienced. The film starts with security camera footage of a Tokyo hotel, showing Itō and Noriyuki Yamaguchi, then Washington D.C. bureau chief of TBS Television and a man with ties to influential politicians. In the video, Yamaguchi is dragging the severely intoxicated Itō out of a car and into his hotel room. After this night, Itō filed a report with the police, claiming that she had been sexually assaulted using a date rape drug. However, the police refused to accept the case, citing a lack of evidence beyond Itō’s memory. Even after an investigation was initiated, it was inexplicably halted, and the case was dropped without indictment. Faced with the failure of the investigation, Itō decided to come forward publicly, and made an accusation by revealing both her own and the other party’s names. The case raised widespread public reaction, both in Itō’s support and online slander against her. Itō continued investigating the case for over seven years and ultimately won a civil lawsuit against Yamaguchi. Constructed with private video footage, the documentary depicts Itō’s agony and reflections shedding light on sexual violence in Japan.