By Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO, Sep 24 1997 (IPS)

Mari, 27, was raped by a co-worker in a hotel room during an office mission the two of them had been sent on. “I was devastated,” she said.

A few months later, she sought advice from another colleague at work. “He asked me to keep quiet and never speak about the incident. He said it was my duty to protect the company,” she recalled.

For a long time, rape has been an unutterable word in Japan. Up till two years ago, the Metropolitan Police Department did not even mention “crime” as a separate offense in its crime statistics.

The Japanese media remains reluctant to use the word “rape” in its news reports, preferring instead to say “abuse” or “assault”, which observers say reflects the norm in Japanese society that stresses harmony above individual justice.

But while rape remains wrapped in social taboos, victims are slowly and hesitantly starting to speak out and to demand justice for an offense long kept under wraps.

“Rape victims are usually women and speaking out in conservative Japanese society is extremely difficult for them. But the situation is slowly changing,” said Rikako Itaya, director of the Rape Crisis Centre set up in April by the Kanagawa Police headquarters, situated just outside Tokyo.

Victims also have more venues to turn to these days as activists move to squarely address the issue of rape and violence against women amid an expanding crime rate.

A hotline service has been established in the Rape Crisis Centre in Kanagawa which offers counseling and help for women. The centre directs women to lawyers and other support groups that encourage them to bring perpetrators to justice.

The telephone service has been deluged with callers. Since it started last April, more than 2,000 women have asked for advice or sought sympathy from the staff of the four policewomen who have been trained as counselors and work with the hotline.

“The situation is very disturbing,” explained Itaya. “Callers range from their early teens to over 70 years of age, who have suffered for many years in silence. The biggest problem is that they have no one to talk to.”

Advice and encouragement from Itaya and her staff as well as support from other private centres have helped almost half our callers to seek justice, Itaya says.

Private counselors are also calling for more assistance centres, since actual rape cases go far beyond the number reported.

The number of rape cases reported in Kanagawa from January to August this year totals 79, up 30 percent from 1996 figures. Reported sexual molestation cases also rose by 37.6 percent from last year. Itaya says these are just about 10 percent of the real figures.

As shown by the case of Mari, who had called up the Rape Crisis Centre hotline, Japanese women face complex cultural and social barriers to getting justice for sexual crimes like rape.

Loyalty to one’s country, company and family and putting group harmony above individual rights are deeply entrenched values in Japan. The image of Japan as a peaceful society superior to its western and other nations remains faithfully protected.

In one case, a 33-year old woman told Japanese media that as a youngster she had endured six years of rape by her mother’s cousin. Only last year did she muster enough courage to call the help line.

“I was 10 years old when it started and I had no one to turn to,” she said. “There were many times I wanted to kill myself.”

Police say two-thirds of rape incidents involve attackers known to the victim. This is another reason why the assault is not reported, because family duty is a priority.

And while rape victims commonly fear reporting to the police, this hesitance is even higher in Japan. Eighty percent of rape victims in the country do not report the assault to the police, says one report carried out last year by Japanese social workers in collaboration with U.S. supporters.

The survey shows that many victims fear being cross-examined by Japan’s male-dominated police. “Women are faced with a ‘second rape’ experience during questioning by male police,” said Ayumi Toda, a women lawyer who specialises in human rights

cases.

In an interview with the local media, Toda says the police base their perception of rape on Japan’s 1907 criminal code — which implies that a woman must appear badly battered and bruised before a case can be sent to prosecutors for trial.

“The old law covers cases of virgins who lost their chastity from rape. It is not sympathetic to non-virgins. Police often imply it was the woman’s fault,” Toda said.

Attitudes that hold that women must have done something to trigger a rape attempt are common here, as does a thinking that only certain types of women get raped.

A comment made several years ago by a former director-general of the cultural agency, Shumon Miura, reveals this mentality. “Rape, although not gentlemanly conduct, was not so bad if practiced on modern young women whose moral standards has slipped anyhow,” he said.

One 27-year old woman recalls that she nearly gave up a lawsuit she had filed because she was being forced to recall the rape incident many times. Sobbing, the woman said she had been abandoned by her family, who believed that what she was doing was ruining the reputation of her younger siblings.

Itaya says Japan may be one of the world’s most industrialised and richest countries, but remains lagging behind developed regions like Europe and the United States in helping rape victims cope with their ordeal both psychologically and legally.

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