A former assembly member in Japan who alleges she was sexually assaulted by the mayor of the town she represented has spoken out, claiming residents were unduly pressured into voting to expel her last week.
Shoko Arai, who was the only woman on the 12-member assembly in the hot-spring resort of Kusatsu, accused the mayor, Nobutada Kuroiwa, and other prominent local men of seeking to drive her out of office after she went public with her allegations in an ebook in late 2019. She claimed Kuroiwa sexually assaulted her in his office in 2015. He denies the claim.
Japan town’s sole female councillor ousted after accusing mayor of sexual assault
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Arai was expelled from the assembly on Tuesday last week after residents voted overwhelmingly for her to be removed.
“Since I made my accusation, I have been punished in the council and subjected to a storm of criticism,” Arai said at a press conference on Friday. “Does Kuroiwa want to use his power to exclude ‘troublesome’ people like me from the council, to drive me out of the town and destroy my life?”
Arai’s case has highlighted criticism of the way authorities in Japan deal with allegations of sexual violence. According to a 2017 government survey, only 4% of women who have allegedly been sexually assaulted come forward.
Arai said her ordeal had proved Japan also needed to address its low rate of female representation in politics, especially at local level.
“Why do you think the #MeToo movement doesn’t seem to be catching on in Japan?” she said. “It is because we live in a male-dominated society that creates an atmosphere in which it is difficult for women to speak out. Instead, they are crushed. That is exactly what happened to me,” she alleged.
The 73-year-old mayor has repeatedly denied sexually assaulting Arai in his office in 2015. Speaking to journalists this week, Kuroiwa labelled Arai’s allegation “100% a lie and fabrication”, adding there was not even room for an argument over whether there was consensual sex. “There was absolutely nothing at all,” he said.
Kuroiwa said the fact that Arai had not filed a complaint with police or launched a lawsuit proved her claims were baseless. Arai said she was considering legal action but feared she would not receive a fair hearing.
Kuroiwa has made a criminal complaint against Arai and is seeking defamation damages in a civil suit. He accused her of making false allegations against him to pressure him to change a decision over a policy on hot-springs bathing.
The sexual assault allegations triggered an angry backlash among male members of the assembly and a campaign of personal attacks against Arai, who had represented her seat as an independent since 2011.
Fellow councillors voted her out of office in December last year, but the move was overturned by prefectural authorities. Local politicians, who accused her of making “scandalous” remarks and of “harming the dignity” of the council, then gathered enough signatures to hold a recall vote.
Of the 2,835 residents who voted last week, 2,542 backed her removal.
Kusatsu, a town of 6,200 people north-west of Tokyo, is heavily dependent on tourism. On Friday, Arai, 51, said tourism officials, hoteliers and inn owners had joined forces with male assembly members to force her out.
“Kusatsu is a tourist town, and most of the council members are the presidents of hotels or ryokan inns, and many of the residents are their employees,” she said. “How could people possibly refuse to sign a petition for a recall vote when they are asked by their boss or employer?
“It is a small town and would have been easy to find out who refused to sign the petition or who voted for me to remain in my seat. It’s not an exaggeration to say the whole town is under surveillance.”
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