During my first year on the job, the head of the department told me that he would teach me about sales. His department was next to mine, and his sales record was by far the most impressive in the company. After taking up his offer and accompanying him, he pressured me for sex.

When I said “no,” it meant nothing to him. After finally landing my dream job at a time when the job market was frozen, I didn’t know how else I could decline his request since I knew that he was the boss, and I was just a new employee. After the act, I realized that the scar left by this experience could not be brushed away; I felt powerless, and wanted to disappear from this world. I couldn’t seek help from anyone about what happened that day.

Being a naive 22-year-old, I blamed myself for years after that. But after 15 years – at the age of 37 –I finally told my closest friends about my experience, and they told me with assurance that I should not blame myself. One of them even shared her own experience with me, one very similar to mine. Then I learned that while sex without consent would be considered a crime in other countries, my experience would never be considered a sex crime in Japan because even though I said “no,” I didn’t fight back with all my strength. I still have nightmares about that day and feel shaken to my core. But I started thinking that instead of just being scared, I wanted to change the situation in Japan.

In Japan, the percentage of women who ask the police for help when forced into sexual intercourse with people of the opposite sex is a mere 4.3%*1. Most victims think that they were in the wrong, and that they would be held to blame, so they keep their experiences a secret, telling no one.

Why is it that in Japan, in comparison to other countries, sex crimes receive less severe punishments and victims find it so much more difficult to ask for help? One of the reasons is the penal code: the Japanese penal code was written over 100 years ago, in 1907. The law was established by a Diet in which not a single woman was present, and thus instead of considering the pain that victims go through, emphasis was placed on protecting family honor and pedigree. Moreover, the provisions specifically related to sex crimes in the penal code have barely been amended in over 100 years.

But, we now have a chance to change this situation. The Japanese Ministry of Justice is considering amending the sections related to sex crimes in the penal code, and there is a high possibility that by January 2017, the proposal for reforming the law will be submitted to the Diet. This is a chance to change the penal code after 100 years: a once-in-a-century opportunity.

But most cases of sexual assault rely on existing hierarchical power relations found in the workplace, in school, as well as in families to silence opposition by the victims*2, and therefore with the current proposal, perpetrators in such cases will still walk free. Accordingly, starting this fall, we are meeting up with politicians to advocate for a proposal that could help more survivors. To do this, we need everyone—each one of you—to raise your voices in support of the penal code reform.

We don't simply want to reform the penal code. Rather, we want to make Japan a place where sex crimes get punished, and survivors can live positively. Please sign your name and share!

*1 2014 Japanese Cabinet Research on violence between men and women
http://www.gender.go.jp/policy/no_violence/e-vaw/chousa/h26_boryoku_cyousa.html

*2 In regards to the research above about the people who were forced into sexual intercourse with people of the opposite sex, when asked about the kinds of relationships survivors had with the perpetrators, 65.9% answered “acquaintances.”

<Main Organizations of Change Sex Crimes Law Project>
Tomorrow Girls Troop
NPO Shiawase Namida
Survivors' Association on Sexual Assault and Penal Code
Chabudai­gaeshi Joshi (Table-Turn-Over Ladies)