The timeline of Shiori Ito [2016] Jul-Dec

Ms. Shiori Ito's life from July to December 2016 in chronological order. The sources are colored as followed:
Her book "Black Box"➡　
Posts on social media➡　
My comments will be indicated by 💡, actions of Ms. Ito by 🔴, actions of Mr. Ahlmark by 💚, and actions of Mr. Sato by 💜.

July

Jul 04: 🔴Posted a photo taken in Cuba to social media

Mr. Ahlmark also posted a photo of a trip to Cuba in December as #tbt (Throwback Thursday).

Mid-Jul: 🔴She met with the prosecutor in charge, Mr. K, for the second time. Mr. K said, "I think Mr. Yamaguchi is really bad. He may have done it to other women. I can never forgive him. But there is no evidence. It's difficult." "It's terrible that the predecessor prosecutor told you, the victim, we would arrest him but then it got suspended. It's something that should never happen. We're really sorry."

Jul 22: Tokyo District Public Prosecutor dropped charges of Mr. Yamaguchi's "quasi-rape" case for insufficient evidence.

In her book "Black Box", she states, "The result made me feel my own deep helplessness." Let's take a look at Ms. Ito's actions after she felt that deep helplessness.

Jul 22: 💚Mr. Ahlmark came to Japan again and posted a photo from Sangenjaya on social media.

Jul 24: 🔴💚Started filming "Lonely Death" documentary

💚Mr. Ahlmark stayed in Japan until August...presumably in Ito's home.

August-September

Aug 21-Sep 20: 🔴💚Filmed a documentary of "Racing in Cocaine Valley" in Peru

Mr. Ahlmark is the producer and director, and Ms. Ito is the camera person. It seems that they enjoyed not only filming but also sightseeing such as Machu Picchu.

💡In her book, she says that she didn't request to a Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution immediately because "when they decided not to prosecute him, I put a lid on this fact for a while. I didn't want to think about it anymore."

Looking at the series of photos on social media, you can see that Mr. Ahlmark came to Japan on the day of the indictment decision, then they immediately started filming "Lonely Death", and when that was over, she was busy filming documentary and sightseeing in Peru. However, none of these are written in the book.

October

Sep 30-Nov 28 💚Mr. Ahlmark stayed in Japan.
It's seen from the photos posted on social media, while the editing of "Lonely Death" was in progress, he enjoyed sightseeing in Japan.

👆Trip to Nara, Japan. Ms. Ito was in Europe at that time so she was not with him here.

October: 🔴She saw the photos about Carri Leigh Goodwin at the World Press Photo in the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography. It made her decide to request to the case to a Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution in order to raise her voice and not to be silent.

💡In fact, since October 2016, she had been busy promoting the Walkcar, developed by Mr. Kuniaki Sato, to foreign media.

Oct 13: 🔴Started advertising after the announce of taking pre-orders of WALKCAR

On this day, Cocoa Motors announced that it will start taking pre-orders for the portable electric car that can be carried in a bag, WALKCAR, from October 21, 2016. Ms. Ito's tweet above about WALKCAR was posted on the same day, October 13.

The linked Instagram post has been deleted, so we can't know what it was, but this French article published on October 13 says "For further information: Shiori Ito, Media Relations Department, COCOA MOTORS, Inc." So it is certain that Ms. Ito was the official public relations person of Cocoa Motors at the time.

Oct 28: 🔴Halloween costume party with friends in Tokyo

👆I wasn't gonna wear a costume on Halloween night but Shiori brought a Sphinx costume. It fit perfectly without a wig because I cut my hair. Lol. Thank you @shioristreet

November

Nov 11: 🔴💜Appeared in a popular Spanish program to promote WALKCAR

Ms. Ito, Mr. Kuniaki Sato, and Mr. Ryo Maeda of Cocoa Motors appeared on the popular Spanish program "El Hormiguero" and you can see it on YouTube. I added English subtitles as much as I can. Please turn on the English subtitles if you need them.

I also studied Spanish for about a year in the past, but Ms. Ito's Spanish level is, to be frank, "after one month at a language school" beginner level. In her book, she wrote "I also mastered Spanish," and in the resume she wrote in 2015, she also said "Spanish - daily conversation level." However, in this program, she's speaking a few sentences she memorized before the show (and not so perfectly), or suddenly starts dancing without understanding the conversation. You can see her Spanish is clearly not "daily conversation" level.

Looking at this alone, you can see how Ms. Ito exaggerates and distorts the facts for her own convenience (Since it's in her resume as well as in her book, it's not her editor who likes to exaggerate things, it's Ms. Ito herself.) I don't know how much exaggeration or falsehood is in Ms. Ito's claims or testimonies.

Nov 13: 💚Posted a photo on social media of him walking Ms. Ito's mother's french bulldog

The photo was said to be taken by Ms. Ito, but since she was in Europe with Mr. Sato on November 13, this photo was taken before she had left Japan. The dog Mr. Ahlmark writes "My dawg Marie" was a dog of Ms. Ito's family (mother). Mr. Ahlmark's mother and Ms. Ito also had active exchanges on Instagram, it seems they were close to each other's family.

👆The name of the account is "Marie Ito" and Ms. Ito and Mr. Ahlmark were both in the followers.

Nov 17: 🔴A VICE video "Single Japanese Women Are Buying the Boyfriend Experience: Slutever" was published

According to Ms. Ito's website, it is unclear what position she was, but she worked in the production. VICE is a media company that Mr. Ahlmark had provided more than 10 films to since 2011. Of course, this work must be also an introduction via Mr. Ahlmark.

Nov 18: 🔴💜Appeared in a BBC video in the UK to promote WALKCAR

After Spain, she also appeared in a British BBC video. This time, Mr. Sato, who is the inventor, answered the interviewer, and Ms. Ito appeared only a little in the video.

Nov 24: 💚Completed editing "Lonely Death", had a celebration dinner with Yusuke Hayamizu

While Ms. Ito was working in Europe to promote WALKCAR, Mr. Ahlmark stayed in Tokyo, completed editing the "Lonely Death" documentary with Mr. Yusuke Hayamizu. Mr. Hayamizu posted a photo on his social media that the two had a wrap-up dinner.

👆Finally, we have finished editing the long-length documentary. I already miss it. I think the style of thoroughly pursuing reality that is completely different from Japanese TV is my home ground. Rather than taking both sides and having balance, the interpretation of the media itself is different. It's not about right or wrong, it's not about justice, it's about naturally having the angle of media. This is absolutely important, and it's a fair attitude that doesn't seek the ultimate righteous. This also applies to fiction movies. Our executive producer, Mr. Nick is in the photo. Wrap-up dinner♬

Around the end of Nov.-the beginning of Dec. 💚Mr. Ahlmark returned to England.
Posted a photo on social media of goodbye lunch with a friend at Roppongi Hills on November 28.
💡Ms. Ito wasn't there. She went to London with him the previous year, but at the end of 2016, Ms. Ito stayed in Japan.

December

Dec 30: 🔴Posted her thoughts of 2016 on Facebook

💡Following 2015, again it was a year of flying around. The places I could find were, starting from London, Hokkaido (Yubari), Ethiopia, Madrid, Sicily, Cuba, Peru, Madrid again, and London. She went to Yubari with a female colleague, but the rest she went with either her then-boyfriend, Mr. Ahlmark, or Mr. Sato, who their relationship unknown but is the CEO of the company that Ms. Ito was working as public relations for at that time.

To me, Ms. Ito who was vigorously traveling around the world didn't seem like a sexual abuse victim suffering from PTSD. I see a woman who was ambitious and had a strong desire for success. She luckily met a documentary director who was 10 or more years older, he took her here and there overseas and gave her job opportunities. At the same time, she got to know a promising venture entrepreneur, went on a trip for two, worked as a public relations person, and tried so hard to sell the product both in and out of Japan.

Ito writes in an article that contributed to imidas as follows.

When I asked the police investigator that I wanted to report the damage of quasi-rape, I heard, "You can no longer work in the Japanese media. Your efforts so far may be in vain" that was what I was afraid of. I chose (Omission) "It should be fine if I work for overseas media."
How can a person of Japanese nationality work in overseas media? I had no idea, but I believed that I could do journalism no matter where I was, and I chose not to give up my dreams and truth.

I desperately searched for a job with overseas media and thought of various projects. One of the themes that got approved was "Lonely Death."

This sounds as if she brought her project to foreign media and got approved, that's how the "Lonely Death" documentary was made. Ms. Ito, who had no academic background or career as a documentary director, cannot suddenly become a director just because her project passed. It's because the guest via a private lodging website was coincidentally a documentary director, he fell in love with her, later had a relationship with her, and filmed "Lonely Death" with her using his connection and his support.

Not mentioning it is not just an exaggeration of ability, but it's almost falsifying her career, just like she says in her book, "I also mastered Spanish." Frankly, I wonder if Ms. Ito, who had hardly been involved in documentary production until then, was able to do her job as a director properly.

Also, the interview article of Ms. Ito published in GQ mentions her life in 2016.

"Lonely Death" which she directed was aired on Singapore's Channel News Asia in March 2017. She said the production took almost the whole year of 2016. However, 2016 was also a year of a series of hardships for Ms. Shiori.

Once again, she began 2016 in London, then Ethiopia, Spain, Italy, Cuba, and Japan filming her first directed documentary "Lonely Death", then Peru for filming another documentary, sightseeing Machu Picchu, returned to Japan and Halloween party, then Spain and England. She's constantly flying around. Looking at this time series, how many people can say that “2016 was a series of hardships for Ms. Ito”? Even she said herself, "Thank you 2016, you were full of surprises and I loved it :)"

💡What happened to WALKCAR after all?

"WALKCAR" of Cocoa Motors where Ms. Ito worked as a public relations person, suddenly there's no news of progress after November 2016 when Mr. Sato appeared in the BBC video together with Ms. Ito. Looking at their website, after the pre-order start on October 21, 2016, only "Notice of Shipment Postponement" on August 21, 2017 was updated. On Twitter, people are asking like, "What happened to Cocoa Motors?" "I think they'd better issue a message."

However, they received a loan of 500 million yen from Nissei Capital in May 2018, and the deficit of 170 million in the financial results of June 2019 with total assets of 430 million yen. They might be slow, but I hope they are steadily making efforts for shipping.

Looking at Mr. Sato's social media or his attitude in the video, I don't think that he's superficial or frivolous. Taizo Son, a famous businessman in Japan, introduced Mr. Sato in an article on Diamond Online.

In 2011, we decided to conduct an entrepreneur support program at MOVIDA JAPAN where I was the representative. (Omission) Mr. Sato of Cocoa (Motors) brought plywood to the selection of the first batch. He attached casters to the plywood and rolled it up and down, and said, "This is ours." When I asked if it didn't have any sensors or motors, he says, "No, but I'm doing research." Although he had an idea in his head, he hadn't finished a prototype.

(Omission)

Since then, Mr. Sato and his colleagues have been researching and developing for about 6 years. During that time, the income was zero and there was almost no investment. Even so, they continued to develop without giving up. When I look at them, the words of Konosuke Matsushita (the founder of Panasonic) come to my mind, "Success is to continue until it succeeds." After all, I think the path to success is to continue doing like they did.

Compared to Mr. Sato who is diligent and perseverant, Ms. Ito was involved with Cocoa Motors only for about one year, and now she has not even disclosed the fact in her book or in an interview. Considering that the relationship between Ms. Ito and Cocoa Motors could not be confirmed after November 2016, and that WALKCAR's media exposure sharply declined from the same period, maybe it was Ms. Ito who took the lead in domestic and overseas advertising activities.

I would like to personally support Mr. Kuniaki Sato. We hope that the shipment of WALKCAR will be realized. At the same time, I don't trust people who appeal to the world out loud and advertise, but in a short time, just quit.

In the next post, we will see Ms. Ito in 2017, when she finally holds the interview, in chronological order.

You can click the link below to see the Japanese version of this post.

gatitomaurice.hatenablog.com

The timeline of Shiori Ito [2016] Jan-Jun

Ms. Ito's life from January to June 2016 in chronological order. The sources are colored as followed:
Her book "Black Box"➡　
Posts on social media➡　
My comments will be indicated by 💡, actions of Ms. Ito by 🔴, actions of Mr. Yamaguchi by 🔵, actions of Mr. Ahlmark by 💚, and actions of Mr. Sato by 💜.

January

🔵Prosecutor K interviewed Mr. Yamaguchi for the investigation.

🔴💚Staying in London together

Ms. Ito met Mr. Ahlmark in November of the previous year, went to Singapore in December, and then to London with him after returning to Japan. Although she flew to Thailand in October 2015 to interview and make a documentary about Rohingya refugees and told her journalist friend that she would visit Yangon in November or December, she not only didn't go to Yangon as she had promised but never mentioned Rohingya refugees on her social network again.

I don't know exactly when they traveled to London, but it was probably from late December to early January. On Mr. Ahlmark's public profile page on the private lodging site, which you can jump to from Ms. Ito's page, a comment on their January trip was posted as "Nick and his girlfriend Shiori."

February

Feb 23-28: 🔴Report on Yubari International Film Festival with Megumi

March

💚🔴Mr. Ahlmark visited Japan again and filmed a video for booking.com in Tsukiji

April

April-June: 💚Mr. Ahlmark returned to England

April 14-19: 🔴💜Ms. Ito traveled to Ethiopia with Mr. Kuniaki Sato of Cocoa Motors. Inc.
💡The tour guide at Addis Ababa wrote in the photo above, "Thank you very much for your visit in my country. The best part of my job is meeting awesome people. Shiori Ito, Kuniaki Sato"

Kuniaki Sato from Cocoa Motors. Inc.

While it seemed that things were going well with Mr. Ahlmark, Ms. Ito suddenly traveled to Ethiopia with another man in April. The man is Mr. Kuniaki Sato, the CEO of Cocoa Motors. Inc.

Kuniaki Sato is a venture entrepreneur who finished his master's degree in the Shibaura Institute of Technology and launched in 2013 "Cocoa Motors", a company that develops and sells portable transporters "WALKCAR".

I don't know exactly when Ms. Ito and Mr. Sato met each other, but in October 2016, Ms. Ito tweeted, "I got on this tiny miracle car last year with Reuters video camera," so I think they probably met around that time. Walkcar was introduced in a Reuters video in August 2015.

In the latter half of 2016, they both appeared on a popular Spanish program, which will be discussed later. I don't know what the purpose of the trip to Ethiopia in April was or why they went by themselves (I don't think it was for WALKCAR, so Mr. Sato likely accompanied her for her purpose.) I wonder if it didn't bother Mr. Ahlmark that his girlfriend traveled abroad alone with another man.

Almark not only liked Ms. Ito's posts from Ethiopia (both on Facebook and Instagram), but he also liked the comment of the local tour guide.

Apr 18: 🔴She asked for an interview with Mr. Yuki Yasuhiro who wrote a book on lonely death.

💡Ms. Ito started to prepare for the shooting of "Lonely Death" when she was still in Addis Ababa. The producer of the "Lonely Death" documentary is Nicolas Ahlmark. I wonder if Mr. Ahlmark gave a green light for the filming of "Lonely Death" when she was with Mr. Sato in Addis Ababa.

May 

On the profile page of Ms. Ito of the pre-mentioned private lodging site, it can be confirmed that Mr. Ahlmark made a reservation in Madrid, Spain in May for two.

According to the information leaked online, Ms. Ito's birthday is in May (yes, she's hiding even her date of birth...why?) Did Mr. Ahlmark planned a trip to Spain to celebrate her birthday? In addition, a photo of a trip to Sicily, Italy with Ms. Ito was posted on Mr. Ahlmark's social media. It's highly possible that they traveled to Italy too when they went to Spain.

May 30: 🔵Mr. Yamaguchi resigned TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) Television.

June

Jun 9: 🔵Mr. Yamaguchi published a book titled "Prime Minister", a biography of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

In the next post, we'll see Ms. Ito's second half of 2016.

You can click the link below to see the Japanese version of this post.

gatitomaurice.hatenablog.com

The timeline of Shiori Ito [2015] Oct-Dec

The relationship between Ms. Ito and Nicholas Ahlmark, who will later be filming the documentary "Lonely Death" together. The sources are colored as followed:
Media coverage➡　
Posts on social media➡　
My comments will be indicated by 💡. actions of Ms. Ito by 🔴, and actions of Mr. Ahlmark by 💚.

October

Oct 22: 🔴Dinner with friends at her new house

👆It's different from the room that was shown in the BBC documentary, but you can see the same wooden table.

Oct 31: 🔴Wore a costume for Halloween with friends in Shibuya

👆Ms. Ito's costume is, again, exposing her stomach and very sexy.

November

Nov 5: 🔴Published an article on same-sex partner certificates of Shibuya Ward (co-writing with Megumi Lim)

Nov 8: 💚Ms. Ito makes a first appearance on Mr. Ahlmark's social media.

Later, they made documentaries titled "Lonely Death" and "Racing in Cocaine Valley" together and won silver prizes at the New York Festivals. I'd like to introduce his background briefly.

Nicholas Ahlmark
Born in 1975 or 1976 (estimated from college graduation year), a UK based filmmaker specializing in long-form documentaries who majored in Film/Cinema/Video Studies at University of Westminster and Producing Film and Television at Royal Holloway University of London, and has since provided documentaries to Al Jazeera English, CNBC, Vice and Channel News Asia amongst others.

💚At that time, he came to Japan to film a documentary for Al Jazeera about the famous "Botaoshi" (a capture-the-flag-like game) at the National Defense Academy of Japan (shooting from the end of October till around November 15).

I thought he met Ms. Ito on business, but one of my friends found a post that seemed to belong to Ms. Ito on a private lodging site when they were looking for a place to stay, and sent me her public profile page. Anyone who has an account on the website can see this page.

They met as a guest and a host on the private lodging website

According to her profile page, Ms. Ito rented her room as a host to the guest on the website from around October or November 2015. Mr. Ahlmark was one of her first guests who stayed in her room.

It seems that while Mr. Ahlmark was staying, Ms. Ito showed him around the area. The photo Mr. Ahlmark posted on his SNS is probably from that time.

Nov 11-15: 🔴Shooting in Yubari with Megumi

While Mr. Ahlmark was shooting "Botaoshi" game at National Defense Academy in Zushi, Ms. Ito went to Yubari with her Reuters colleague Megumi for shooting.

💡Ms. Ito is now making a documentary called "My beautiful dying city, Yubari," but Megumi was the original person who started covering Yubari. Megumi went alone to Yubari in May and July 2015.

Story editor

Incidentally, Ms. Ito introduced this "Botaoshi" documentary directed by Mr. Ahlmark as a film that she had worked as a "story editor" on Twitter in May 2016.

What do story editors do? Wikipedia explains as follows.

Story editor is a job title in motion picture and television production, also sometimes called "supervising producer". A story editor is a member of the screenwriting staff who edits stories for screenplays.

They got to know each other as "guest and host" on a private lodging website in the middle of the shooting, and she suddenly got involved in the film as a story editor, aka "supervising producer"? In the photo Mr. Ahlmark posted on social media during the shooting of "Botaoshi," Ms. Ito cannot be seen at all.

Nov 29: 🔴💚Mr. Ahlmark posted a photo of the sushi lunch he had with Ms. Ito on social media.

Nov 30: 🔴Ms. Ito went to Megumi's birthday party.

December

Dec 02-04: 🔴💚Attended Asian TV Awards in Singapore

💡Of course, it was Mr. Ahlmark who was nominated for the award and it seems he took Ms. Ito with him. It's about a month since they met, but obviously, they were dating, or perhaps more than that by this time.

Dec 14: 🔴💚Went on a photo shooting date in Tokyo

Dec 28: 💚Posted a photo on social media from England

After finishing the shooting of "Botaoshi" documentary, I thought that only Mr. Ahlmark had returned to England. But it turned out that Ms. Ito had accompanied him and went to England together. We will look at it in my next post.

It took nine blog posts just to chronologically track Ms. Ito's life in 2015. What a year for her too! After returning from New York, she started living in a room in Harajuku, started working at Reuters, then the incident happened with Mr. Yamaguchi, went to the police many times, visited many clinics, traveled to Germany, to Israel, and to Paris, covered various stories with Megumi in Japan, moved to a new apartment, flew to Thailand to interview Rohingya refugees, came back and dressed up in Halloween, started renting her room, met Mr. Ahlmark, interviewed in Yubari, flew to Singapore with Mr. Ahlmark, flew back to Tokyo, and flew to England. All of these happened in only 2015.

Don't just think what's written in Ms. Ito's book "Black Box" is all that happened, but compare it to the time series I'm introducing here. You'll see Shiori Ito's more realistic side. In the next post, let's look at her life from 2016.

You can click the link below to see the Japanese version of this post.

gatitomaurice.hatenablog.com

The timeline of Shiori Ito [2015] May 13-October

Ms. Ito's life from May 13, 2015, when the email battle with Mr. Yamaguchi was over, to October 2015, right before she meets Nicholas Almark. The sources are colored as followed:
Her book "Black Box"➡　
Posts on social media➡　
Court documents➡　
My comments will be indicated by 💡. actions of Ms. Ito by 🔴, and actions of Mr. Yamaguchi by 🔵.

May

May 13: She heard from investigator A that the taxi driver testified.
Around the same time, she was made to reenact the incident at Takanawa Police as part of an investigation.

Mid-May: The investigation was not getting any progress.

May 20: 🔴She was diagnosed with PTSD at the Machidori Psychiatric Clinic.
The medical record says, "They had sex at about five o'clock, but she doesn't remember it."

May 29: 🔴She asked permission to use photos of the eruption in Kuchinoerabu Island for Reuters.

👆Ms. Ito: Where did you take this picture?
Reply: It's the first image that came out when I searched about it.
Ms. Ito: Thank you. Can you tell me what keyword you entered to search for?

👆Sorry to bother you often. I'm Ito from the Reuters TV department. This is my personal account but if this is the image of Kuchierabu Island taken today, we'd like to use it on the news. Could you approve?

May 30-31: 🔴News reporting with a coworker at Reuters , Megumi Lim

👆She's dressing lightly even though it's only the end of May. Was her PTSD okay in front of men of Mr. Yamaguchi's age?

💡With no progress in the investigation, she received a medical certificate of PTSD from psychiatric medicine, then got back to work at the end of May. There are her other posts on Twitter asking for permission to use photos of the eruption. I can see that she's very pushy from those tweets, which is probably good for being a journalist.

June

Somewhere between Jun 01-03: 🔴She left for Berlin for work.
Before she left, a friend of hers gave her a book titled "The murderer is right there" written by a journalist, Kiyoshi Shimizu.

Jun 04: Investigator A called her to announce that they would arrest Mr. Yamaguchi at the airport on the 8th. She was asked to return to Japan.

Jun 08: Mr. A called to say that the arrest had been suspended. He also said another investigator would be in change.
She called the office of the prosecutor in charge, Mr. M, and a person who answered said Mr. M was not in charge anymore. She stands in the kitchen, where the western sun shines in hard.

Around Jun 09-11: 🔴She went to Israel to visit a friend she had met in New York.

She got a call from the police investigator Mr. A's boss and was told that the Metropolitan Police Department's investigation division would be in charge of the case. She called her former-prosecutor uncle and was advised to find the arrest warrant.

Around Jun 15-19: 🔴Before returning to Japan, she made a trip to Paris with a friend.

👆Why does she omit the trip to Paris when she writes about the trip to Germany and to Israel?

After returned to Japan: At the Metropolitan Police Department, she met with new investigators and heard their explanations that Mr. Yamaguchi had a social status and didn't need to be arrested because he was not likely to escape. She was encouraged to make a private settlement.

Jun 22: Mr. Yamaguchi's DNA was detected on Ms. Ito's bra. They searched his house and confiscated his computer and tablet. Yamaguchi passed the polygraph exam.

💡Her book mentions briefly that there was no reaction to the polygraph exam, but the police's polygraph is not forced, it's voluntary. You can reject it if you don't want to be tested on a lie detector. Nonetheless, Mr. Yamaguchi did it and passed.

Although polygraph is generally thought to be unreliable, Wataru Zaitsu of the Criminal Department's Scientific Investigation Laboratory at Toyama Prefectural Police Headquarters says the accuracy of the questionnaire is 86% in sensitivity and 95% in specificity. Mostly, it's about 90% accurate. The American Polygraph Association also says the accuracy rate is above 90 percent when done properly. Here are two videos showing the experiences of those who have been subjected to a police polygraphic examination. Both of them are surprised at high accuracy.

The description in the book "Black Box" from Jun 23 to Aug 25

During this time, the dates are not shown in her book, so I'll pick and write the things to seem important in the order of being written in the book.

The police interviewed her for the investigation again because the case was transferred to the Metropolitan Police Department. A few days later, she went to the Metropolitan Police to check the report. She met a lawyer who was introduced to by her investigators but got disappointed because the lawyer was specialized in settlements.

Meanwhile, she was worried about meeting Mr. Yamaguchi near her work. When she saw a man with a similar appearance, she felt nauseous and panicked. One day, while she was on the phone at work, she suddenly fainted because of stress. She was even more mentally driven into thinking that she might be retaliated by reporting to the police and not be able to work in the same industry.

One day, she got a phone call from an unknown number. It was Mr. A and he said, "I wanted to tell you that it's not that I screwed up." She asked Mr. A a lot about the arrest warrant. Mr. A encouraged Ms. Ito and said, "You should ask the Metropolitan Police Department why the arrest warrant was not executed." It made her decide to confront the huge organization.

She tried to find a lawyer by herself and called the telephone counseling service of the Tokyo Three Bar Association and met a lawyer, Yoko Nishihiro. Also, one of her colleagues introduced her to Tomoko Murata, a lawyer specializing in sex crimes. Ms. Nishihiro and Ms. Murata happened to know each other for some time. Ms. Ito went to the Metropolitan Police Department with the two lawyers and asked about the arrest warrant. The police said, "The arrest warrant has already been returned last week. We don't have any plans to file a new application." She received requests for private settlement from Mr. Yamaguchi several times.

The real life of Ms. Ito from Jul 11 to Aug 18

Ms. Ito says that just seeing a person with a similar appearance to Mr. Yamaguchi caused her nausea and that stress caused her to faint during the phone call at work. Let's take a look at Ms. Ito's daily life on social media during that period.

Jul 11: 🔴Testing Steadicam with a coworker at Reuters, Megumi.

Around Jul 16-17: 🔴Moved from Harajuku to Setagaya

Jul 21: 🔴Covered a story about the Ranch of Hope in Fukushima with Megumi.

💡Ms. Ito is wearing a tight tank top in front of a man almost the same age as Yamaguchi. I'm sure it was hot outside in the middle of July, but I think its bad manners to wear revealing clothes at work. Megumi is neatly dressed in a jacket. Other people who saw this post were also worried.

👆Below says: Was this lady OK with sunburn and insect bites?

Jul 24: 🔴Reporting on the former Prime Minister, Mr. Murayama.
To a comment that says, "You're in the middle where you can see it well," she replies, "I have a high femininity that's called a thick skin ;) "

Aug 15: 🔴Covering a story at Yasukuni Shrine, wearing a tight top that exposes her belly.

Aug 18: 🔴Went to Kyoto on a trip with a friend

Aug 25: 🔴Started a project on Japanese tattoo

👆"Anyone who would let me take photos of your Japanese tattoos, please give me a message."

💡Although she says in the book, "I felt nauseous and panicked when I saw a person who looked like Mr. Yamaguchi," Ms. Ito's actions seem contradictory. Wearing a tight tank top in front of a man of middle age, exposing her belly in a tight short T-shirt, and showing interest in taking pictures of semi-naked men even though it's for her new project.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing her for wearing exposed clothes. As I've said before, I also used to like to wear revealing tight clothes. That's why, especially in Japan, I know how much you attract the eyes of people (especially from men) when you wear exposed clothes showing your belly during the day.

To me, Ms. Ito in these pictures does not seem scared of Mr. Yamaguchi's revenge, and does not seem to be in a state of mental deadlock to the point where she loses consciousness while on the phone at work. By the way, she says in an article that at this time she was looking hard for "materials that foreign media may be interested in," so the Japanese tattoo project must have been one of them in consideration of its popularity overseas. But that interest also seemed to wane quickly, no photo was posted after the two above.

Aug 26: Filing Charges

🔴Contacted a journalist, Kiyoshi Shimizu. After that, she was interviewed by Nippon TV and met a reporter from the Tokyo Shimbun Newspaper, but the incident never got reported.

Sep 14: 🔴Went to the Ranch of Hope in Fukushima with Megumi.

Sep 22: Photo shoot of a model friend, Hikaru Tsuchiya

💡On the Internet, there is a false rumor that this woman is Shiori Ito and the photos were taken at the Sheraton Miyako Hotel, where the incident happened. But correctly this was taken by Shiori Ito and the woman is Hikaru Tsuchiya, Ito's friend, and a professional model.

The shooting location is the hallway of the apartment where Ms. Ito had lived at the time of the incident (the address is browsable in court documents, she had already moved to Setagaya at the time of shooting). 

This is a luxurious vintage apartment just one-minute walk from Harajuku station and the rent will be at least 100,000 to 300,000 yen (about $900-$2800) a month. How did Ms. Ito, who was supposed to return from New York because she was broke, and who had hardly made any money as an intern at Reuters, pay the rent over 100,000 yen?

Sep 29: 🔴Posted a photo on social media where she eats dinner with Megumi in her new house
Oct 02: 🔴Covering a story about Japanese public bath with Megumi.

October: She met a new prosecutor in charge, Mr. K.

🔴Prosecutor K explained that the police investigator A's behavior was "unnecessary" and "he shouldn't have leaked" the cancellation of the arrest of Mr. Yamaguchi to Ms. Ito.

Business trip to Thailand

🔴Ms. Ito flew to Thailand in early October and started taking a documentary on Rohingya refugees on the border with Myanmar.

Oct 05-06: First she met with a friend in Bangkok

Oct 09-13: She started interviewing on Rohingya refugees in Mae sot.

💡In her Facebook post, she says, "I'm finally filming about Rohingya, I couldn't get this far as an individual without people's kind help. I will bring out the voice I received." But it seems that it didn't take shape after all.

Her journalist friend of Reuters who also was covering the Rohingya refugee issue commented on the post: "you in mae sot? coming to yangon anytime soon?" And Ms. Ito answered, "yes, I'm coming to Yangon next month or December! I wish you can help me!!"...But she didn't go to Yangon either in November or December. Why?

Let's look at that in the next post. We will see how the silver award-winning documentary at the New York Festivals was decided to be filmed in 2016.

You can click the link below to see the Japanese version of this post.

gatitomaurice.hatenablog.com

The timeline of Shiori Ito [2015] May 7-13

In the previous post, we saw until May 6, when Ms. Ito sent a straightforward e-mail. In this post, I would like to show all 26 emails sent during the week of May 7th to May 13th. Please be patient. This post is pretty long. The sources are colored as followed:
Her book "Black Box"➡　
Court documents➡　
My comments will be indicated by 💡. actions of Ms. Ito by 🔴, and actions of Mr. Yamaguchi by 🔵.

May-07 (Thu)

🔵About 10 hours after the previous email, Mr. Yamaguchi sent another email.

Ms. Ito,
I will answer you first about how to reach me out of all the other inquiries you have sent me.

Currently, I don't have an address temporarily in both Japan and the US, so I can't make a cell-phone contract. I will let you know as soon as I get my cell phone in some way. Until then, if you send me an email, I will contact you immediately.

I've been answering your emails right away or looking for a payphone and calling you. Like the day before yesterday when I got an e-mail message from you while driving on the highway, I immediately got off the highway and called you from a public phone, but you didn't answer. I will not deceive or run away, and you can get in touch with me anytime, so please rest assured.
09:33am (20:33pm the previous day in EDT)

Please tell me the date of your return to Japan, your contact information, and the contact information of your current stay. So that I can deal with things immediately when I go to the hospital. I can't go to the hospital unless you clarify that. If you say you won't run away or hide, please disclose these pieces of information and return to Japan immediately. I am calmed down. What more do you need to say to a woman who was raped and has the possibility of being pregnant?
15:38pm (02:38am in EDT)

Shin-Yurigaoka General Hospital and browse restriction of the medical records

🔴In fact, on this same day, Thursday, May 7th Ms. Ito was examined at the Shin-Yurigaoka General Hospital, resulted in negative for a pregnancy test, and diagnosed with "nearly zero possibility of pregnancy" due to the bleeding after the emergency pills.

It's a new general hospital that opened in 2012. 

💡Although the examination time is unknown, Thursday's operating hours at the hospital are 9 am-12 pm, and 14 pm-17 pm. So it's highly possible that the above-messages of "I can't go to the hospital " and "who was raped and has the possibility of being pregnant" were sent after the pregnancy test and confirmed negative, in the hospital's waiting room, or at worst, on the way to the hospital. Even though it's to find out where Mr. Yamaguchi was (as explained in her book), it kind of scares me how easily she lies.

Also, why did she go to the general hospital just to have a pregnancy test? It was a weekday, so the wait time at a general hospital would have been quite long. She may have received another medical examination in another medical department at the same time.

Ms. Ito is currently restricting access to her medical records because of personal information. On Dec. 19, 2019, at an interview after the civil court's ruling, she said, "We can discuss publicly the diagnosis of the doctors if my personal information such as my home address is covered." However, on Dec. 20, Ms. Ito's lawyers sent Mr. Yamaguchi a written request not to disclose the medical records and security camera footage. It's almost like they are shouting out loud the truth is there. To open the security camera footage and medical records to the public requires more voices. If you want to know the truth, please tweet the following hashtag on Twitter: #伊藤詩織氏のカルテと防犯カメラ動画の公開を求めます

About an hour later, Mr. Yamaguchi replied.

What do you mean by rape? I can't agree with you at all.
If you want to fight legally, let's do it. I'm absolutely fine. I'll take my lawyer to the next meeting.

You can't win even if you insist on quasi-rape. I have a lot of witnesses. If you still want to fight, I'll get ready too.

If you're willing to talk about it in a positive and honest manner, shouldn't you have an attitude that we can discuss? It's all up to you.
16:37pm (03:37am in EDT)

I have no intention of attacking or making you suffer at all. I will spare no effort to get over this situation as soon as possible.

However, if you remain hostile to me like you are now, I will no longer have a choice to deal with it. To dispel unreasonable criticism, I would accept a trial that'd last for more than months or a year. If you choose to burn and hurt each other.

Can you talk about it calmly and positively? If you can, I'll go back to Japan immediately.
17:00pm (04:00am in EDT)

May-08 (Fri)

The following email of Mr. Yamaguchi is omitted in her book "Black Box."

Ms. Ito,
In response to the hostile wordings of your email, my reply tends to be strong, but I will do everything I can to solve the difficulties you face.

I think it's better to see you once and I'm thinking about going back to Japan very soon. I sent you an email about that, but I have not received any response. It takes some time to adjust the schedule and check flights back and forth between Japan and the US. Please let me know as soon as possible, as the time for my return to Japan will be delayed too.

Again, I won't run away or hide and I will do anything I can.
To do so, I'm replying immediately whenever you contact me. I would like to deal with various issues in a positive manner.
11:36am (22:36pm the previous day in EDT)

🔴Ms. Ito called Mr. A and told him Mr. Yamaguchi might be in Japan because he replied very quickly. She consulted Mr. A what to reply because her lawyer told her he would find out she was consulting the police if she didn't reply. Mr. A told her she could simply reply, "I'll think about it."

As I have said over and over again, right now my physical health is my top priority.
Please let me think about it a little.
13:24pm (00:24am in EDT)

All right. I'll make it as convenient as possible for you, so please feel free to contact me.
13:53pm (00:53am in EDT)

🔴She couldn't trust the police, so she consulted with her uncle who used to be a former prosecutor. He said she could find out about Mr. Yamaguchi's entry into and departure from Japan if she asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She put herself together and sent another email to Mr. Yamaguchi.

💡This is the famous "former prosecutor uncle" issue. Mr. Yamaguchi's lawyer investigated, and he confirmed that there is no record of a prosecutor or a "deputy" prosecutor on either father's and mother's side. Moreover, immigration control is under the Ministry of Justice. A prosecutor belonging to the Ministry of Justice can possibly not mistake that. Even if it was just her mistake, they should have confirmed the accuracy of such information before publishing it.

You say you're replying without running away or hiding, but you only reply like that, and I haven't gotten the most important response over the past few days, so my fears haven't been removed yet and I feel like you're only protecting yourself.
You said before that there was no possibility of pregnancy, what did you mean by that? You repeat you will do anything over and over again, then what on earth is it that you can do?
19:06pm (06:06am in EDT)

If you need an important answer that hasn't replied, please tell me. I'll reply right away.
21:37pm (08:37am in EDT)

Why did you tell me before that there was no possibility of pregnancy?
22:57pm (09:57am in EDT)

That's because of the illness I have.
23:05pm (10:05am in EDT)

What kind of illness? Please tell me in detail because it is related to my health.
23:09pm (10:09am in EDT)

It's an illness in which sperm activity is remarkably slow.
23:12pm (10:12am in EDT)

I see. It sounds as if you are justifying sex without contraception by weak sperm. I thought you had a son, didn't you?
23:19pm (10:19am in EDT) *Omitted from her book

Don't reveal my underwear.

💡Didn't she know anything about in vitro fertilization and other infertility treatments? "Sperm activity" is a very sensitive topic concerning men's confidence, especially when it's slow. It's nobody but Ms. Ito herself who decided to discuss this very private matter in public, and in order to find out the truth, sometimes you have to disclose such private information.

She made public this Mr. Yamaguchi's private information that any man, in general, would be very embarrassed about (Plus, she shrewdly omitted the sarcastic reply to him, "I thought you had a son, didn't you?") How could she say to Mr. Eitaro Ogawa not to reveal her underwear?

At an interview after the civil court's ruling, Ms. Ito said to Eitaro Ogawa as followed.

As a woman, I didn't want to reveal my underwear. But you made it public. I want you to think deeply before you write. Does it have a significance for society? Moreover, I have never been interviewed by you. In this regard, I would like to ask you what you think about writing unilaterally as a journalist.

Why does she bring out "women" here? Isn't she a feminist who advocates gender equality? If she says she wanted him to be considerate of her as a woman, shouldn't she also be considerate of Mr. Yamaguchi as a man? I want to tell Ms. Ito exactly the same thing as she said.

As a man, Mr. Yamaguchi didn't want to reveal his sperm activity. But you made it public. I want you to think deeply before you write. Does it have a significance for society? Moreover, he has never been interviewed by you. In this regard, I would like to ask you what you think about writing unilaterally as a journalist.

In the book, she says, "The followings are the main emails that we exchanged," but if you see the omitted emails, it shows that Ms. Ito is persistently and overbearingly pressing Mr. Yamaguchi to take "concrete action." *Highlighted pink parts are omitted in the book

May-09 (Sat)

I have been taking a positive attitude towards solving problems and answering your questions, but if you are in a different position and policy, then these interactions are pointless. Too bad.
04:20am (15:20pm the previous day in EDT)

My period hasn't come yet. I've been so scared I can't sleep since that night.
What is the specific meaning of your positive attitude toward resolving the problem?
04:35am (15:35pm the previous day in EDT)

May-10 (Sun)

Please answer. What is your positive response that you mention?
Even though you say you will do what you can, that you won't run away, yet you still haven't even apologized to me who was hurt.
If I'm pregnant, I can never tell my parents that it's yours, a married man who has a son and who's around the same age as my father. Besides, it's too filthy and immoral that you did it against my will.
Too bad if you won't respond to this email with your more specific action, even though I contacted you in urgent need for a medical reason.
11:53am (22:53pm the previous day in EDT)

If you need urgent medical action, I'll help you as much as I can, so please be specific. Also, if you want to meet and talk with me, I suggested to return to Japan temporarily for that reason, but I haven't received any specific response from you since then. You accuse me, but you don't tell me exactly what I should do, so I'm at a loss.

I feel very bad that you are exhausted mentally and physically, and I will do everything I can to improve it, so please suggest concrete things to do.

And I haven't apologized because our perceptions of facts are fundamentally different. The things you mentioned in the previous emails also quite differ from the actual facts. However, if I object to your claim about the facts, it could be further psychological pressure on you, so I dare not refute.

It's not that I don't intend to apologize to you at all. Apologizing vaguely when we have fundamentally different understandings of the facts causes misunderstandings in many ways so I think it's inappropriate.

Again, I'm deeply concerned about the fact that you're suffering alone not being able to talk to anyone. Please tell me specifically what I should do now.
12:38pm (23:38pm the previous day in EDT)

May-11 (Mon)

I'd like to hear your apology and remorse first. What do you mean by differing from the actual facts? As long as I can't have your response on this point, I think it's meaningless to talk to you from now on. Our job is to tell the truth, right? I hate people who distort facts the most.
13:40pm (00:40am in EDT)

You said you would reply as soon as possible. It's distressing to even wait like this.
17:40pm (04:40am in EDT)

Your reply to my previous email took around 25 hours. This time you only waited for four hours and you complain. Is there anything that can be solved by denouncing and threatening in a high-handed manner?

Can't you calm down a little? Do you think the discussion will proceed with your present attitude? Can't you try to solve the problem together?
18:05pm (05:05am in EDT)

It was you who said you would respond as soon as possible. You presented yourself. This doesn't fall within a threat.

Please don't change the subject anymore. That is not the answer to my previous email.

Let me repeat it.

I'd like to hear your apology and remorse first. What do you mean by differing from the actual facts? As long as I can't have your response on this point, I think it's meaningless to talk to you from now on. Our job is to tell the truth, right? I hate people who distort facts the most.

I'm only asking the same question again and again, and you keep changing the subject from my question like this.

So can I recognize it as you have no intention to answer?
18:39pm (05:39am in EDT)

May-12 (Tue)

You mean, I am obliged to reply to you quickly, and you can reply to me whenever you feel like it, right?
02:13am (13:13pm the previous day in EDT)

Please re-read my May 10th email regarding apologies and support. Also, I will not discuss the facts with you via email. That means I won't respond to your request of unconditional apology. I think anyone would respond the same way in this situation.

It doesn't mean that I deny the support you need. I am still ready to support you based on good intentions. If you tell me specifically, I'll do everything I can.

However, if you continue to be aggressive and hostile like now, the same thing will repeat pointlessly if I interact directly with you, so I will let a third party involved from now on to contact you.
12:45pm (23:45pm the previous day in EDT)

May-13 (Wed)

I got a call from the Japanese media in Washington that I had asked about your job, they want to have an interview with you.

Apart from the current situation where our communications are not doing well, If you are interested in working in the US, please feel free to let me know what you would like to do.
00:07am (11:07am the previous day in EDT)

Ms. Ito,
You may not take it as it sounds, but I am worried about you. I'll do anything I can to support you, and I'm still ready to hear what you want me to do specifically.
10:37am (21:37pm the previous day in EDT)

That's all the emails.

💡What do you think? Some men read these emails and said their testicles almost crawled back inside. She is trying to force him to apologize and demand self-reflection, using a high-handed and overbearing attitude, and to make him say the "measures to solve the problem in a concrete way." If she suggests it, it would be a crime of extortion (even if he didn't pay, it would be attempted extortion).

Although she never says it clearly, she demands an apology and his sincere action. When he asks, "What do you want me to do?" she asks back, "What can you do?" She's too used to this. This may have not been her first time to demand an apology and money from a man.

She also says in her book, "I couldn't stand being connected to Mr. Yamaguchi even by email, so my friends wrote drafts of email for me, but they were expressing direct anger, so I had to write them over." However, considering how late at night she emailed or how in the short time she replied, I don't think she consulted with her friends and replied.

Her friends must have jobs, or maybe they have a family. It would be impossible to be with Ms. Ito all the time. As I wrote in my previous post, unlike the second email which was written by someone who obviously isn't Ms. Ito, the tone of the other emails has consistently been coercive and threatening. I think Ms. Ito tries to shift the blame onto her friends for the threatening emails by saying they aren't what she wrote.

Malicious impression manipulation

In the book, the part where she went to a hospital to have a pregnancy test with her nurse friend, S, comes AFTER all the exchanged emails. She says her period was one month behind schedule even though she had taken the morning after pills, and she had irregular bleeding too, so the police investigator A recommended her to go have the pregnancy test.

This makes the readers think she went for a pregnancy test after sending this series of emails saying, "I'm scared if I get pregnant." In fact, it made me think so too until I got to know the fact that she went to Shin-Yurigaoka Hospital on May 7. This is nothing but a malicious attempt to get readers to perceive things differently from the facts for her own convenience.

In addition, "bleeding for three days six days after taking the emergency contraception pill" is a typical "successful case of emergency contraception pill" on many websites. When she came up with Date Rape Drugs, she immediately searched websites for information about memory loss and nausea symptoms when DRD was used. If she searched for emergency contraception pills, she could have gotten the correct information immediately. As for this, as a woman, I have to say, "Give me a break!"

In the next post, we will move onto Ms. Ito's life of the rest of 2015, after the direct battle with Mr. Yamaguchi.

You can click the link below to see the Japanese version of this post.

gatitomaurice.hatenablog.com

The timeline of Shiori Ito [2015] April 23-May 6

Ms. Ito's life after the incident, from April 23 to May 6. The sources are colored as followed:
Her book "Black Box"➡　
My comments will be indicated by 💡. actions of Ms. Ito by 🔴, and actions of Mr. Yamaguchi by 🔵.

As noted in my previous post, there's about a week from Apr. 18 till Apr. 23. where I couldn't find any activities of her whether in her book or on social media.

Apr-23 (Thu)

🔴A friend of hers, R, who quit the job because of sexual harassment, introduced Ms. Ito to the Japan Legal Support Center, and she consulted a lawyer for free. She also showed the lawyer the previous emails. The lawyer pointed out the need to obtain the footage of hotel security cameras.

🔵Mr. Yamaguchi was dismissed as the chief of the TBS Washington Bureau and transferred to Sales Bureau.

Apr-24 (Fri)

The lawyer pointed out that there were no direct words in his emails, so she decided to send an email again.

Mr. Yamaguchi,
My period hasn't come yet, I am so scared. I'm obsessed with this, whether I'm asleep or awake. How can you be so sure it's impossible for me to get pregnant? Please tell me the reason.
11:48am

Apr-25 (Sat)

🔵He posted on Facebook a photo of Evening Paper Fuji reporting about him getting demoted. He was in Japan at this time.

🔴She heard from a friend about the article of Mr. Yamaguchi getting demoted.

Apr-27 (Mon)

🔴Investigator A contacted her and said the police could not arrest him, it would be difficult because there was no evidence. When she told him about the demotion of Mr. Yamaguchi, he said, "We don't know when he'll get demoted. Let's not talk about something uncertain," "If you still want to file a damage report, we'll accept it."

Apr-28 (Tue)

🔴Mr. A contacted again in the morning, and said, "The demotion is true, so we may be able to get him," and "I heard that Mr. Yamaguchi is currently in Japan, so please report the damage as soon as possible because tomorrow is a national holiday."

She decided to call Mr. Yamaguchi before she filed a damage report. She wanted to check on the possibility of pregnancy and thought she might be able to get his real intention if she called him out of the blue.

💡She says she wanted to get his real intention...what intention is she talking about? No way she wanted to ask, "I want to know your real intention of raping me"...did she?

She would panic and feel nauseous just by looking at someone who looked like Mr. Yamaguchi, but with her best friend K, from K's house, she called Mr. Yamaguchi's cell-phone twice. But he didn't answer.

Then Mr. Yamaguchi sent her an email.

Ms. Ito,
I don't have that cell-phone currently with me. Also, since I quit my job, you can't reach me even if you call the branch office or head office. However, if you're still interested in working in Washington, I will tell that to the successor manager.

Please reply to this email if you want to reach me. Thank you.
12:52pm

Mr. A contacted her again in the afternoon. She told him she had received an email from Mr. Yamaguchi saying he'd quit the company, but Mr. A got angry and told her not to move around on her own.

She contacted the Sheraton Hotel about the security video, but they said they could only share it if the court requested it. She asked them to preserve the data.

Shopping during the battle with Mr. Yamaguchi

On this day, the following picture was posted on Ms. Ito's friend's social media.

💡The photo was posted on April 28. It's possible that it had been taken before, but it should be around this time. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying she's lying because she's wearing a sexy dress. I'm definitely not saying that women who like to wear sexy clothes lie (I used to like to wear revealing clothes).

I just want to point out that it is inconsistent with her statement. Wearing sexy clothes certainly attracts the attention of people, especially men. She says just looking at someone with a similar appearance to Mr. Yamaguchi causes panic and nausea, but she still feels like trying on a sexy dress with holes on the sides?

Apr-30 (Thu)

🔴She submitted a damage report to the Takanawa Police. She asked them to exam for the Date Rape Drug again, but Investigator A told her, "There's no point in checking it now. It's too late." So she gave up.

May-04 (Mon)

🔴When she was with her friend, I, her friend saw Mr. Yamaguchi's post on Facebook and found he was in Izu, Japan. She contacted Mr. A and asked him to meet Yamaguchi to investigate because he was in Japan, but Mr. A refused it, saying the police couldn't see Facebook or couldn't email Mr. Yamaguchi.

When she asked him if she could contact him in person, Mr. A hesitated, "It is very problematic for the police to have the victim negotiate directly with the suspect," but finally he gave permission because of the possibility of Mr. Yamaguchi returning to the U.S.

Mr. A promised to testify that it was a request from the police if later Ms. Ito's direct contact with Mr. Yamaguchi became an issue.

💡So in the book, Ms. Ito says that Mr. A allowed her to contact Mr. Yamaguchi directly. As I mentioned in my previous post, she said in the press conference after the civil ruling, "I hated it, but the police investigator asked me to contact Mr. Yamaguchi," a completely opposite thing. I would love to see Mr. A testifying in the appeal court as he promised.

She emailed Mr. Yamaguchi with the lawyer in the lawyer's office. The lawyer advised her to include the word "work" so that it would be easier for Mr. Yamaguchi to answer, for he had answered proactively only regarding work. She didn't want to, but followed the advice.

I'd like to talk to you as soon as possible about pregnancy and work, so please let me know your phone number.
11:45am

Mr. Yamaguchi immediately called her with an anonymous number. He said he was calling from a public phone because he didn't have a cell-phone. Ms. Ito said she wanted to see him, but he said he couldn't because he was going back to the U.S. on the morning flight the next day. He said he would call again and hung up.

She thought she would go to Takanawa Police where Mr. A was and talk on the phone with Mr. Yamaguchi, so she called Mr. A, but he replied that he could not move because a person had fallen into the river.

She emailed Mr. Yamaguchi again from the lawyer's office.

Since it's a national holiday today, the hospital was not open. Can't you extend your stay? Because I might be pregnant.
14:36pm

After leaving the lawyer's office, Mr. Yamaguchi called her with an anonymous number when she just left the Yoyogi Uehara Station. She didn't respond because she wasn't with the police. Then Mr. Yamaguchi sent her an email.

I called you but you didn't answer, so I'll call you back after a while. I cannot change the schedule for tomorrow, but I will be back in Japan in about a week or two. Also, wherever I am, I will do everything I can, so please don't hesitate to tell me anything.
Yamaguchi.
15:08pm

🔴Her best friend K invited her to a picnic in the park. She replied to Mr. Yamaguchi on the way to the park.

I'm with my family now, so I can't talk on the phone. I'd like to meet you and talk to you, so please email me as soon as you decide the date to return to Japan.
18:08pm

💡This small lie shows Ms. Ito's tendency to exaggerate and distort facts to her convenience. Why does she have to lie that she was with her "family"? Why can't she just say, "l can't talk because I'm with my friends"? Also, she does not seem to feel guilty about lying at all, nor did she even make any excuses in her book. Ms. Ito's lies, about the hospitalization, her family, knee injury, and pregnancy...they're all very "sympathy-attractive".

May-06 (Wed)

🔴She didn't hear from him for two days, so she decided to send him a straightforward email before Mr. Yamaguchi heard of the police investigation, she wrote the email with her friends and sent it.

Mr. Yamaguchi,
Up until now, I've tried desperately to control my memory and emotions. Because if I face them, I'll collapse. However, It's becoming too hard to control myself. 

That night, I was forced to engage in sexual activity while I was unconscious, and I was hurt both physically and mentally. After that, I had pain in my vagina for a few days and my nipple was so hurt that I couldn't even take a shower. My knee joint was dislocated, I'm wearing a knee brace even now. I was shocked to find that you did this to me because I trusted you, I can't sleep at night and can not go to work because of this, but I tried hard to cover this up thinking about my future. However, now that my period is significantly delayed and the possibility of pregnancy is increasing, I have to face reality as soon as possible. If you do not give me a sincere apology, and deal with this situation about my work and my pregnancy as soon as possible, I can't take it anymore mentally that I have no choice but to ask the people around me for help. I think you should have already dealt with it in the first place. You told me you would be back in a week or two, but I have to go to the hospital to handle it as soon as possible, so please return to Japan immediately. Also, please have a cell-phone that works in Japan. It's not acceptable that I can't get in touch with you when I need to.

Please reply to all of these things. I've reached my limit of you ignoring or denying my words in the email as you did before.
22:28pm (09:28am in EDT)

🔵Mr. Yamaguchi replied immediately.

Ms. Ito,
I am very concerned about your mental and physical exhaustion. I'm also sorry that you don't have someone to consult with nearby. I won't run away or hide, and I will do everything I can, so please calm down first.

I also think highly of your ability, so I'd like to do my best to help you get the right job in the US, and I've actually received some specific offers. Don't you think you need to calm down first and deal with things positively to move forward?

Please think calmly about your understanding of the facts.
For example, is it because of me that your knee hurts? Do you remember being saved by staff from the restroom of the sushi restaurant where you locked in and fell asleep? According to the staff, you fell off of the toilet seat and slept in an unnatural posture, so maybe you hurt your knee then, right? If you insist that I did something that hurt your knee, please explain the situation. In many ways, I would like you to calm down first.

Again, I am prepared to do everything I can to make you feel better both mentally and physically, based on good intentions. I would like you to calm down first so that we can work together to solve the problem.

Also, please tell me what you want from me. What's all that I have to answer? I don't understand your email well. I have no intention of deceiving or running away. I would like you to organize it positively and tell me in an easy-to-understand way, not with your fighting attitude.
23:12pm (10:12am in EDT)

The following day, May 7, the fierce battle of emails starts. In the next post, I will introduce all of the emails, including those omitted in Ms. Ito's book "Black Box."

You can click the link below to see the Japanese version of this post.

gatitomaurice.hatenablog.com

The timeline of Shiori Ito [2015] April 15-18

Ms. Ito's life after the incident, from April 15 to April 18. The sources are colored as followed:
Her book "Black Box"➡　
Media coverage➡　
Court documents➡　
My comments will be indicated by 💡. actions of Ms. Ito by 🔴, and actions of Mr. Yamaguchi by 🔵.

Apr-15 (Wed)

Ms. Ito went to the Sheraton Miyako Hotel with the police detective A. The corridor on the second floor where Mr. Yamaguchi had stayed had no cameras, so they checked the footage of entrance and the lobby. They watched the video again at the Takanawa Police, Ms. Ito's best friend K came and saw it together.

She submitted her clothes she had worn that day for DNA testing, but they had already been washed. Only the bra had slipped to the side of the shelf where she had placed her clothes when she had taken them off, so it hadn't been washed. She hoped it'd work.

💡Mr. Yamaguchi's DNA was later found in her bra. However, according to Ms. Ito's claim, her nipple was bleeding. But no bloodstain was detected.

🔴Published an article on vagina art on trial (co-writing with Megumi Lim)

💡In the book, she says, she was too drained to go out to work so she took a break telling them her knee hurt around 6-7 April. But it seems that she had resumed work around the 15th.

Apr-16 (Thu)

Since Ms. Ito did not reply to the previous email, Mr. Yamaguchi sent her another email.

Did you get the email? Did you read it?
In our job, it is very important to respond promptly and properly to business communications. I've been devising a great deal to hire you, Shiori. It makes me think you might have lost your motivation because you haven't responded. If you lose your motivation, don't you think it's polite to let me know?
11:13am (22:13pm the previous day in EDT)

Apr-17 (Fri)

Another email was sent from Mr. Yamaguchi.

Ms. Ito,
There has been some progress in your employment. Please let me know at least if you are still interested or not.
02:00am (13:00pm the previous day in EDT)

Visting Matsusima Clinic

Ms. Ito received an examination at Matsushima Clinic, a women's clinic specialized for the sexual violence victims in Edogawa Ward, that was an hour and a half away from her house.

Her medical certificate for this date was leaked online. I write the contents of it here.

Background and details of the consultation to our hospital

The menstruation: March 19, 2015 - 5 days. Sexual damage occurred between April 3 and 4. The pain at that time was severe, so the patient wanted to have a gynecological examination, and was examined at this hospital on April 17, 2015. An internal examination revealed no trauma in the vagina from the vulva. At this time, the vaginal secretions were collected and tested for gonococcus, chlamydia, and bacterial culture. The results are normal, no pregnancy test was conducted because emergency contraception pills were taken on April 4, 2015, and bleeding was reported on April 9 for 3 days. The patient said that she suffered insomnia due to mental hardship. Etizolam was prescribed for 17 days.

💡If the gynecologist determines that no pregnancy test needs to be conducted because the bleeding was reported 6 days after emergency contraception pills had were taken, they should explain this to the patient. Ms. Ito, however, in subsequent emails, persistently pressured Mr. Yamaguchi, saying, "I'm worried if I'm pregnant, what will you do if I'm pregnant?" We will dive into that later.

Etizolam is an anti-anxiety drug, and is advised to "preferably avoid taking it while pregnant." The doctor's prescription of Etizolam is proof that they knew (and most probably told her that) Ms. Ito was not pregnant.

At night, she finally replies to Mr. Yamaguchi.

Mr. Yamaguchi,
I couldn't contact you because I've been in the hospital for several days. What do you mean by progress?
19:50pm (06:50am in EDT)

💡She lied that she couldn't reply because she had been hospitalized. Her excuse would be to hide that she was consulting the police already, but she could have simply said, "I was busy" instead of "hospitalized." She went to a clinic in the afternoon, and then later said, "I was hospitalized." I think it shows her characteristic of "exaggerating or distorting facts in her favor."

You were in the hospital? Are you ok?　
Progress means that it looks like we are going to increase the number of branch office staff by one for the upcoming presidential election. We will consider what kind of person we'll hire from now on.
20:49pm (07:49am in EDT)

Apr-18 (Sat)

🔴Ms. Ito replied to his email in consultation with her friends to make him admit the fact and to pull out the words of apology before the damage report was accepted by the police.
*The highlighted purple part is omitted for her book.

Mr. Yamaguchi,
This time we met when you came back to Japan because you invited me to talk about the VISA which was the remaining issue because you wanted to hire me and make a contract as a new producer or as a freelancer, didn't we?

Then why did you take me to the hotel when I was unconscious and do it without protection, and then call me to say you would proceed with my visa procedures, and now you give me such an unclear answer? Considering this situation, it seems like you were waiting for your opportunity by bringing up some business stories.

I have already talked to my family about you and this employment, so I am at a loss for an answer every time they ask me about the situation.

Since then, my mind and body have been damaged, and I have to pay a huge amount of money for hospital expenses and examination fees, etc.

If the words you have said are true, please handle this with sincerity. Also, I think it's not nice that there was no apology even though I said I had been shocked in my previous email. And please bear the medical expenses too.
20:36pm (07:36am in EDT)

💡Although she says she tried to "pull out the words of apology," the purpose of this email is obviously to demand he would "handle this with sincerity," and his apology is a secondary issue. In the subsequent emails, she continues to ask for his "sincere response," but when Mr. Yamaguchi asks the specific meaning of it or what exactly she wants him to do, instead of answering it, she asks back, "What can you do?"

I didn't know exactly what she was asking for from Mr. Yamaguchi until I got to know all the exchanged emails. The answer was in the omitted section above. A "sincere response" means "give me money."

Ms. Ito,
I didn't know you were taking it that way.

You drank voluntarily and became intoxicated even though I didn't force you, and you threw up in the taxi and on my suit and luggage and became completely wasted. I couldn't leave you on the street, so I took you to where I stayed. You threw up in the hotel room and in the bathroom and I was the one who cleaned it all. You also vomited on my important official documents, so it took me a lot of time and money to reissue them.

Nothing would have happened if you had dined normally and returned home. Of course, I don't meet with someone whom I'm going to work with having such an intention from the beginning. Have I ever used my business authority to approach you or flirt with you? I never have, have I? If you simply think that you are a victim and I am an assailant, and you think that I had such a malicious intent in the first place, it's a great pity.

And what's the unclear response? I think highly of your enthusiasm and motivation and keep working on it. A time like this, it is very difficult to increase the number of staff of overseas branch offices.

If it costs you money because of that night, I'll think about it. But please look back at your own actions too. If you can communicate calmly, please email me again.
21:50pm (08:50am in EDT)

Mr. Yamaguchi,
I am writing this email because I would like to talk to you calmly.

If you say you took care of me, I would like to thank you for that. But I was also unconscious and you did it without protection, and I've been worried since then about what I'd do if I get pregnant.

What do you think about it, in case I get pregnant? I was thinking that I would work hard from now on, but now I'm living in fear that I won't be able to work if I am pregnant.
22:44pm (09:44am in EDT)

💡The emails referring to the possibility of pregnancy

After introducing his email above, she writes in her book as followed.

It was truly my unfeigned feeling. I was prescribed morning after pills several hours after the incident, but my menstruation was late significantly than expected. Emergency pills don't prevent pregnancy for 100 percent.

Although the day before the doctor at Matsushima Clinic diagnosed as "no pregnancy test was conducted because the bleeding was reported on April 9 for 3 days" (of course, it's not written in the book), she says it was true that "she was living in fear of getting pregnant." So why didn't you ask the doctor to perform a pregnancy test at Matsushima Clinic the day before? Moreover, what doctors don't mention about the possibility of pregnancy when a sexual victim comes to a specialized hospital and told them she had emergency pills?

At a press conference after the civil court ruling, she changed the claim and said, "I was told that bleeding after the emergency pill was a side effect at Matsushima Clinic, so I thought my period hadn't come yet. In addition, it was the police investigator at the time who asked me to search where Mr. Yamaguchi was. I hated it, but we talked and decided to bring up my pregnancy and ask him where he was. I asked him to come out and explain it on behalf of me If it would be a legal issue in the future."

👆Ms. Ito herself explains it in English...she doesn't look calm here.

Isn't it ridiculous for a gynecologist who specializes in sexual violence to say, "Bleeding after taking emergency pills is a side effect and it does not mean successful contraception" when they're writing the exact opposite thing on the medical certificate? In short, she's claiming the doctor at Matsushima Clinic entered incorrect information in the medical record, just like the doctor at Ihc Omotesando Clinic did. I wonder if there's such a coincidence.

Also, investigator A allegedly said he would come out and explain if it'd become a legal issue. It did become a legal issue. I hope Mr. A will testify in the next appeal trial.

Mr. Yamaguchi immediately replied.

When you entered my room that night, you threw up in two places in the room and ran into the bathroom. I cleaned the vomit that was thrown up in my suitcase and on my computer and put it in a plastic bag, wiped them with a wet towel, and went to the bathroom to see you and you were lying in the vomit that you had puked on the floor of the bathroom. I took you out of the puke, removed your blouse and slacks covered with your vomit, moved you to the room, and laid you down in bed. Then I went back to the bathroom and washed away the vomit that had been thrown up with the shower, and I washed the blouse that was covered mostly with vomit and hung it on a hanger because I thought you would be in trouble if you didn't have anything to wear the next morning. And when I returned to the room, you were already asleep and snoring. I couldn't stand the smell of vomit on your hair, so I slept in another bed.

Then you suddenly got up and went to the bathroom and came back to the bed where I was sleeping. You were talking normally, you said like "I drank too much." So it is completely different from the fact that I did it to you who was unconscious without your permission. I was a bit drunk too, then a nice lady like you came to my bed half-naked, and it happened. I think we both have our own reflection points, but I am not convinced at all why I should be criticized one-sidedly.

I don't think it's possible for you to get pregnant. However, I understand that you are worried, so I'm happy to do what I can. But in order to deal with the problem, you need to change the attitude of the one-sided victim mentality.
23:51pm (10:51am in EDT)

💡Unlike Ms. Ito's plan, Mr. Yamaguchi didn't reply, "I'm sorry. How much do you need?" He offered he would consider paying for her medical expenses, but she didn't proceed with that offer, it means that was not the answer she wanted.

For about a week till 24th when the next email was sent, it was weirdly silent. In the next post, we'll continue to see the email conversation between them.

You can click the link below to see the Japanese version of this post.

gatitomaurice.hatenablog.com