Society 'Black Box Diaries' met with silence in Japan

Ikeda Waka explains on Nikkei Asia why "Black Box Diaries," an Oscar-nominated film, has been wholly ignored in Japan.


"Black Box Diaries," a critically acclaimed documentary about a Japanese woman's journey after a sexual assault, has been nominated for an Oscar. Usually, there is media fanfare when a film gains international recognition, but this movie remains unreleased in Japan -- not because of a public backlash or censorship, but because of something more profound: a cultural emphasis on collective consent: it goes against the grain in a collectivist society.

In 2015, Shiori Ito was a 25-year-old journalism student with big dreams. She had been working as an intern at Reuters in Japan while studying at a university in New York. One evening in Tokyo, she met with Noriyuki Yamaguchi, the Washington bureau chief for TBS, a major Japanese broadcaster, to discuss job opportunities in the U.S. What began as a professional meeting turned into a nightmare. Ito says she lost consciousness during their meeting -- drugged, though this could not be proven in court -- and says she was raped at a hotel. The police initially prepared an arrest warrant, but the case was abruptly dropped after the alleged intervention of senior officials. Yamaguchi denied the allegations, but a civil court in 2019 ordered him to pay damages to Ito.

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Other movies shared a similar fate:

"Unbroken" tells the true story of Louis Zamperini, an American World War II veteran who survived brutal treatment at the hands of Japanese soldiers. While it premiered in the U.S. at the end of 2014, it didn't reach Japanese theatres until early 2016. Its portrayal of Japanese wartime cruelty struck a nerve in a country where many see it as a victim of the atomic bombings. Similarly, Nolan's "Oppenheimer", which delves into the creation of the atomic bomb and the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, was released in Japan after an eight-month delay. This was unusual, given that Nolan's films typically premiere here just a week after their U.S. release. The movie's focus on America's role in building the bomb while giving little attention to the devastation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki sparked criticism.

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Both films faced resistance for how they portrayed Japanese collective identity, prompting delays as distributors waited for emotions to settle. This hesitation reflects Japan's ongoing struggle to confront its darker past while balancing cultural sensitivities, historical reflection and national pride.


Paywall alert:

The movie is based on a true story:

While there's essentially radio silence on Japanese mainstream media, Oscar contender "Black Box Diaries" gets a lot of media attention abroad:





The reason the film can't be screened in Japan: "legal hurdles."

At another press conference on February 20th, they more or less admitted that they were not willing to let the film be shown in Japan and let public discourse decide the merits of the film. They argued that showing it here was harmful. Their grievances include:

• Unauthorized Use of Hotel Security Footage: Itō, they claim, broke an agreement by including surveillance footage of her being dragged into a hotel room. This, they argue, is a violation of privacy laws, an agreement to only use the film in court, and could deter future cooperation from hotels in similar cases.
• Inclusion of Private Conversations: The film features the voice of an investigator and a taxi driver, individuals who did not explicitly consent to being part of the documentary. At least, they did not consent according to the lawyers.
• Recording Conversations with Her Own Lawyer: The most dramatic claim is that Itō recorded a conversation with Nishihiro without consent and used it in the film—a supposed violation of attorney-client trust.

These are serious accusations, but let's be blunt: they reek of a distraction, an attempt to shift the narrative away from the real issue. In their obsession with legal minutiae, these lawyers have lost the plot. Worse, they've done something far more damaging: they have publicly undermined their own former client, reinforcing the very systems of intimidation and isolation that make sexual violence cases nearly impossible to prosecute.

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Yes, wouldn't it be terrible if there was some public discourse about a film on a sensitive topic in Japan?! Far better to let NHK news offer helpful suggestions about what topics are safe to talk about. [Sarcasm mode off] Since virtually the entire Japanese population are not involved in high-level politics or law, it's difficult to make that argument about public discourse. Basically, the film makes people in power feel uncomfortable, either because they have abused their position or because they worry about the concept of being held accountable. That's why it isn't being shown in Japan.

Make it a available online for everyone to see. Promote it shamelessly on social media and get influencers of substance to talk about it. You have to direct it into the private sphere where normal people have a chance to see it or it's just going to be forgotten in the pit where they throw all the other embarrasing things they don't want to talk about.

The 2024 documentary Black Box Diaries, created by Japanese journalist Shiori Ito and based on her personal experience as a survivor of sexual assault, is set to open in Japan on 12 December. The film's publicist said that issues previously considered problematic have now been resolved. Although the documentary, which has been nominated for Best Documentary Feature at this year's Academy Awards, has already been shown internationally, its release in Japan was postponed due to the unauthorised use of certain footage — something Ito has publicly acknowledged and apologised for.

Ahhh, I saw Shiori Ito being interviewed on British TV a few years ago although I can't remember the context.

I hope the film wins an Oscar ….Japanese distributors won't be able to ignore that!