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.
