What I really wanted to tell in the @GlobalVoices 'introductory' #MeToo story on Japan (3/4)

Last updated: 2019/2/10 | Original Japanese

#MeToo in #Japan (Part 3) - Resources for survivors of sexual assault are slim

While victims of sexual assault are told to get a DNA test as soon as possible after the attack, such "rape kits" are often inaccessible. Compounding the problem, the social and medical safety nets supporting the victims in Japan are still weak. But the safety net has its say too.

The struggle of those on the ground

“Unfortunately, we were not equipped at the time with the capability to transport Shiori [to our facility]”, says Tanabe Hisako in an email interview with Global Voices. Tanabe is Steering Committee member of SARC Tokyo (Sexual Assault Relief Center Tokyo), the only emergency relief center dedicated sexual assault victims in Tokyo. Along with SACHICO (Sexual Assault Crisis Healing Intervention Center Osaka), SARC Tokyo, established in 2012, was one of Japan's first true 24/7-operating sexual assault crisis relief center.

性暴力救援センター・SARC東京

According to Tanabe, SARC Tokyo is intended to act as a "one-stop relief center" in order to connect sexual assault survivors with medical facilities that can provide assistance:

"Japan's first true 24/7-operating sexual assault crisis relief center was established in Osaka in 2010 as SACHICO (Sexual Assault Crisis Healing Intervention Center Osaka). SARC Tokyo was established in June 2012. Both centers were handcrafted by the initiative of women and were designed as either an attachment to or part of an existing hospital. We call them 'hospital-based' centers. They both started out with a staff of one personnel, because the purpose was to effectively respond to calls 24-hours of the day and connect with affiliated institution to provide relief services."

According to Tanabe, a 'one-stop relief center' is a system that functions in a way that SARC Tokyo acts as an agent to connect with the medical institutions and other institutions capable of providing the necessary assistance.

"That's the reason behind the fact that we asked Shiori-san to come to SARC," wrote Tanabe.

"But Shiori-san reportedly said that she had 'neither the will or the power to go out' when she called in. Unfortunately, we were not equipped with the capability to bring her in at the time. If she has reported to the police, with their mobility they could have send out a car to pick her up. But at that time, we could only ask her to come in. Today, however, we can guide the victim to a partner medical institution and SARC staff can be dispatched for immediate on-site assistance. And that's how we are operating today."

In the email response, Tanabe also went on to describe about the realities surrounding the rape kit. In Tokyo, she wrote, 

"... if a rape is reported to the police , the police will bring the rape kit with them to the specified medical institution. If the victim chooses not to file a complaint, then model hospitals currently in operation under the initiative of the Cabinet Office that are equipped with rape kits can utilize them to collect evidence and store them."

She also went on to describe that while those who choose to file a complaint would be able to use the stored evidence for making their case, the confidentiality of those who choose not to will be kept safe by using numbers instead of names to protect their privacy. "SARC does not have the capability to store evidence, but some one stop centers in the nation are equipped to do so," wrote Tanabe.

With a registered staff of 45 people and operated by 2 response personnel rotating 24-hour shifts on permanent basis, SARC Tokyo has started receiving funds from Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) under an agreement signed with the government in 2015 (English release not available), three years after its inception. With this agreement, SARC became the only private relief organization that partnered with the TMG in tackling sexual violence.

However, three years ago, when Shiori called in for desperate help, things were different. The agreement with the Tokyo government only came in July 2015, three months after Shori’s incident.

According to Tanabe, after the agreement, the number of affiliated hospitals have grown to sixty. But before that, the story was different. With limited resources, SARC could only follow protocol to bring Shiori into the affiliated hospital after a preliminary interview. The staff was ready to take Shiori to the affiliated hospital, which was coincidentally the one Shiori had visited herself the day after on April 18.

Today, with an operating budget smaller than those of South Korean counterparts, SARC Tokyo could be regard as one of the most well-funded one-stop rape crisis centers (sexual assault relief centers) in Japan running under similar agreements with their local governments.

The national government has plans to establish at least one such sexual assault relief centers per prefecture in all of 47 prefectures nationwide. According to Tanabe, forty of such institutions has already been established at the time of writing, and costs are funded in various ways according to each institution's needs. However, the budget level remains very low; at a mere $1.5 million (163 million) annually.

The issue of 'recognized cases of rape'

With the wave of #MeToo movement finally reaching into the Japanese psyche, there have been some changes in the attitudes of the victims, their supporters, and even the social system itself. 

According to Tanabe, in annual basis, there were roughly 5,000 cases of sexual assaults reported to SARC Tokyo (including repeaters), of which around 100 to 150 victims have proceeded to the ensuing steps, including preliminary interviews, helping out the victims in reporting to the police and providing expert support such as providing references to the affiliated maternity clinics and ensuring psychiatric care by referring to experts in the relevant field including psychiatrists and lawyers.

Four steps of SARC Tokyo’s relief approach above, according to its website.

1) Telephone counselling
2) Refer to maternity clinics
3) Reporting to the police
4) Refer to expert

In the first half of 2017, of the 77 victims reported to SARC, 37 of them, or an impressive 50 percent of them, reported to the police. This is "quite a high number" compared to previous years, says Tanabe, perhaps because as she stated in The New York Times, “women who call their hotline and are advised to go to the police often refuse, because they do not expect the police to believe them.”

Hisako Tanabe, a rape counselor at the Sexual Assault Relief Center in Tokyo, said that even women who call their hotline and are advised to go to the police often refuse, because they do not expect the police to believe them.
“They think they will be told they did something wrong,” she said.

One of the reasons for this distrust, that makes Tanabe upset, is in the way the authorities count the number of rape cases. According to Tanabe, in Japan the number of ‘recognized cases of rape (ninchikensu; 認知件数)’ is counted only by the number of complaints (higaitodoke; 被害届) accepted, which is not the number of complaints that were filed, and which she says is "only the tip of the iceberg." So the rate of conviction (yuzairitsu; 有罪率), according to her, is close to nil when compared to total number reported: the number of cases actually prosecuted were only two to three cases, and the number convicted was just one.

"Most of the complaints are not even accepted because of lack of evidence," wrote Tanabe, expressing her anger of the status quo.

After the new rape law was enacted, however, there are changes not only in the attitude of the authorities but also in substance. On June 23 2017, almost three weeks ahead of the enactment of the new law on July 13, the NPA (National Police Agency) issued a notice for all police agencies nationwide to change their approach towards victims, mainly because ‘rape victims’ now legally meant that all male victims of all ages are included.

Accordingly, Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has established that two of the police hospitals in Tokyo’s 23 districts as designated affiliated facility for accepting male victims. SARC and the Tokyo government are also considering about how to deal with male victims of sexual violence.

Tanabe closed her email by saying this:

(Continues to Part 4)