Noriyuki Yamaguchi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Noriyuki Yamaguchi
山口 敬之
Born (1966-05-04) May 4, 1966 (age 55)
Tokyo, Japan
EducationKeio University
OccupationJournalist, former director of Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, think tank visiting researcher
Years active1990–present
Known forBiographer for Shinzo Abe, Losing civil case against Shiori Itō

Noriyuki Yamaguchi (山口 敬之, Yamaguchi Ito, born 1966) is a former Japanese journalist and biographer of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He is accused of raping Shiori Itō, who was an intern at Thomson Reuters. His denials and the police refusing to press rape charges against Yamaguchi sparked the Me too movement in Japan.[1]

History[]

Noriyuki Yamaguchi was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1966. He attended the Keio University Faculty of Economics. He later joined the Tokyo Broadcasting System Television where was assigned to the news department as a photojournalist. His overseas assignments included London, England, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Washington, DC, US. After retiring, he appeared on TV programs such as TV Asahi and Fuji TV and on radio.[2][3]

On April 23, 2015, he was dismissed as Washington bureau chief and moved from the news bureau to the sales bureau. On May 30, 2016, he left TBS Television to become a visiting fellow at the East West Center, an American think tank, with journalists.[4]

According to Yamaguchi's Facebook account, he is now self-employed.[5]

Biographer for Shinzo Abe[]

Yamaguchi is the personal biographer for Shinzo Abe, the former prime minister of Japan. He published two books while Abe was still the incumbent prime minister.[6]

Works[]

  • America Invaded by China (中国に侵略されたアメリカ)[7]
  • Prime Minister (総理)[8]
  • Dark Fight (暗闘)[9]

Sexual assault litigation[]

Shiori Itō formally filed a suit against Yamaguchi in September 2017 for sexually assaulting her in a hotel on 4 April 2015.[10][11] Itō previously filed a police report in July 2016, although it was dropped by prosecutors for insufficient evidence.[11] , a close confidant of both Prime Minister Abe and Yamaguchi and acting chief of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Investigative Division at the time, admitted in the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho to have halted the probe and arrest warrant.[12] Ito subsequently filed a complaint with Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution, but a September 2017 ruling did not charge Yamaguchi since "there was no common law basis to overturn."[11]

A Tokyo court in December 2019 awarded Itō 3.3 million yen (US$30,000) plus additional fees in damages from Yamaguchi; however, he stated that he would appeal the decision.[13][11] (She had initially sought from Yamaguchi 11 million yen (US$100,000) in compensation.)[11][13] Yamaguchi denied the charges and filed a countersuit against Itō, seeking 130 million yen (US$1,180,000) in compensation, claiming the incident was consensual and the ensuing accusations has damaged his reputation,[11] although that suit was later turned down due to inconsistencies in his testimony.[13] This ruling has garnered international press due to the lack of reported sexual assaults in Japan and the amount of societal and legal crucibles Itō had to endure for speaking up.[10][11][13]

Ito's book Black Box, talks about the alleged incident and her experiences that followed. An English translation of the book was published on July 13, 2021.[14]

Disputes with Yoshinori Kobayashi[]

On 24 January 2019, Yamaguchi filed a civil suit against cartoonist Yoshinori Kobayashi. Yamaguchi stated that Kobayashi disseminated false information completely different from the facts in the manga Gomanism Declaration drawn by Kobayashi in the magazine's August 2017 issue, where Yamaguchi was depicted as a criminal.[15]

External Links[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Saying #MeToo in Japan". POLITICO. 2 January 2018. Archived from the original on 6 January 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
  2. ^ Richard Lloyd Parry (19 December 2019). "Noriyuki Yamaguchi: Abe's biographer raped junior colleague Shiori Ito in Japan's #MeToo case". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  3. ^ David McNeill (22 December 2019). "High-profile rape case raises questions for Japanese society". Irish Times. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  4. ^ "Past Visiting Fellows". East-West Center. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  5. ^ "Noroyuki Yamaguchi's Facebook". Facebook.com. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  6. ^ Yamaguchi, Noriyuki. "Prime Minister (総理) and Dark Fight (暗闘)". Amazon.com (in Japanese). Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  7. ^ Yamaguchi, Noriyuki (30 July 2021). America Invaded by China (中国に侵略されたアメリカ) (in Japanese). ワック. ASIN 489831953X.
  8. ^ Yamaguchi, Noriyuki (11 April 2017). "Prime Minister (総理)". Amazon.com (in Japanese). 幻冬舎. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  9. ^ Yamaguchi, Noriyuki (26 January 2017). "Dark Fight (暗闘)". Amazon.com (in Japanese). 幻冬舎. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Julia Hollingsworth and Junko Ogura. "Japanese woman who accused prominent journalist of raping her wins civil case". CNN. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Osumi, Magdalena (18 December 2019). "Japan journalist Shiori Ito awarded ¥3.3 million in damages in high-profile rape case". The Japan Times Online. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  12. ^ Tomohiro Osaki (22 November 2017). "Lawmakers hold hearings into whether the rape case against journalist was dropped due to Abe ties". The Japan Times. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b c d "Japanese journalist wins damages in high-profile #MeToo rape case". South China Morning Post. 18 December 2019. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  14. ^ "Black Box: The Memoir That Sparked Japan's #MeToo Movement". Amazon.com. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  15. ^ "Monthly Hanada April 2019", Asuka Shinsha, 29 February 2019, pp. 32–39.
Retrieved from ""