Illustrations by Délice Williams
Japan’s Flower Demo: Breaking the Silence Around Sexual Assault by Inspiring Conversation
In 2007, American social activist Tarana Burke first used the phrase me too” to highlight the frequent occurrence of sexual harassment globally and stand with victims of sexual abuse (?#MeToo Is at a Crossroads”). A decade later, it became a rallying cry heard all around the world. The MeToo movement thrust the long suppressed conversation about sexual violence into the limelight. By focusing on empowerment through empathy, the movement called for sexual assault victims to end their silence and band together with a global community of survivors. Social media was pivotal in the demonstration’s success; #MeToo trended across every social media platform in many different languages as participants shared stories of their own assault with the world. Acts of resistance came from everyone: billionaire celebrities with huge social media presences, women who took to Twitter between double shifts at work, and everyone in between.
In many countries, the conversation spread from social media to very public demonstrations. In the United States, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford held the nation’s attention as she recounted her own experience of sexual assault before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. In South Korea, lawyer Seo Jihyun publicly accused her boss of sexual misconduct in a televised interview, inspiring hundreds of other survivors to step forward. In Sweden, 18 women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against French photographer Jean-Claude Arnaut (Stone and Vogelstein). This led to the revoking of his 2018 Nobel Prize in literature and a two and a half year prison sentence after being found guilty of rape. In Egypt, Rania Fahmy found the courage to press charges against her attacker (Stone and Vogelstein). She became one of the very first Egyptian women to win a court ruling on sexual harassment charges. Rania not only started a conversation among survivors, but also set a new legal precedent for all Egyptian women. As a result of the global movement, CEOs were ousted, celebrities fell from public grace, political candidates were exposed, and legislative reform was enacted. The movement could not be ignored.
However, the MeToo movement was not universally effective in holding perpetrators accountable and empowering survivors. Inspired by the women she saw in other countries, in 2017 a freelancing Japanese journalist Shiori Ito went public with her accusation that former Tokyo Broadcasting System reporter Noriyuki Yamaguchi raped her two years prior after he invited her out to dinner. The public was shocked by this allegation as this went against the Japanese status quo. But instead of being showered with the same support that survivors in the United States experienced, she came under fire. Shiori Ito received threats and backlash on social media, leaving her to fear for her own safety. In several news conferences, the perpetrator called Ito a habitual liar” and publicly shamed her. The criminal case was eventually thrown out because the judge decided that although she was unconscious and did not give consent, it was not enough to constitute rape under Japanese law (Hollingsworth). While Shiori Ito shined a little light about the issue of sexual assault in Japan, it was not successful in sparking the overhaul of Japan’s rape laws as it intended.
The MeToo movement never took flight in Japan as it did in other countries. Japanese victims felt that they did not have the social support to participate in such a public form of resistance (Tamura). The movement was too dramatic and public to break down over a century of ingrained cultural silence and shame forced on the victims. Japan needed to start small and be more low profile to bring real change. Patriarchy has nuances between different cultures and for that reason, acts of resistance against it must adapt accordingly to be successful.
A History of Japanese Patriarchal Culture
Japan has a long history of fostering patriarchal culture. Traces of bushido, the way of the samurai,” still exist in modern society as women are expected to make allowances for men’s misbehavior, including sexual assault (Dussich). Accepting one’s condition of life, not complaining, and enduring hardship with silence is a value highly regarded in Japanese culture. This is believed to be rooted in meditative Buddhist teachings. In The Teachings of Buddha, the section The Way of Practice” states that people should learn to be patient when receiving abuse and scorn” (Dussich). Traditional Japanese thought holds women responsible for protecting their own chastity to protect their family’s honor and pedigree (Sieg). As a result, there is the toxic stigma in Japan that rape is the unfortunate fate of those who stray from the role of the traditional model women.
In addition, Japanese culture emphasizes a collectivist mindset: the consequences of one individual’s actions affect the whole group. Therefore, victims are expected to think of and protect their family’s image when making decisions (Yamawaki 515). This ideology influences many to put their own mental health and personal needs aside when making the choice to conceal any incidents of sexual assault. Also, the very real possibility of being shunned by friends and family for breaking this code are strong deterrents in the victim’s decisions not to report assaults (Dussich et al. 36). The culture of Japan has instilled fear of public shame in the victims, leaving sexual assault survivors with little to no social support.
A Series of Courtroom Aquittals
On March 26th 2019, tensions were high all across Japan as news broke from the Okazak branch of the Naygoya District court. A fifty year old father was acquitted for raping his nineteen year old daughter. The man, who lived with his daughter at the time in the Aichi Prefecture, was accused of quasi-coerced intercourse” (?Aichi: Prosecutors Appeal Innocent”). In the trial, the prosecution claimed that the daughter had been subjected to violence and sexual abuse by her father from a young age, causing long lasting emotional trauma. On the other hand, the defense argued that the daughter could have resisted her father, despite all of the trauma, and therefore the lack of resistance implied consent (?Aichi: Prosecutor’s Appeal”). The presiding judge of the case, Hiromitsu Ukai, acknowledged that the daughter did not give consent, but ruled that she could have resisted. Under this notion, no rape occurred. In the verdict he stated:
After many years of sexual abuse, the defendant has placed [his daughter] under a state of mind control. But it is difficult to recognize that it was to the point of complete control of her personality and a state of dependency. So there remains reasonable doubt that it was not impossible for her to resist (?Aichi: Prosecutor’s Appeal”).
This was not the first acquittal of an accused rapist in Japan; it was not even the first that March. Earlier in the month, three other cases declared three separate men not guilty of sex crimes. In two of the cases, the ruled verdicts were similar to the case mentioned above. The judges ruled that the sexual acts were not consensual, however there was not enough resistance shown by the victim nor enough violence or threatening shown by the perpetrator to constitute legal rape. In a third case, a judge doubted a child’s allegation of paternal rape because he decided that taking into account the large size of their family and their small apartment, there was no way the family could not have noticed the repetitive rapes and assaults taking place (Tamura).
Japan’s Strict Rape Laws
While these rulings sparked outrage in Japan, they legally adhered to the country’s narrowly defined rape laws. Japan’s sexual assault penal code was amended for the first time in June 2017 since 1907 (which was before women even had the right to vote). The changes were not substantial, however. They were limited to broadening the definition of sexual assault to include oral and anal penetration, recognizing male victims for the first time, and increasing the minimum sentence for convicted rape from ten months to two years (Tamura). However, Japan’s legal definition of consent remained untouched. The current law states that prosecution must prove that violence or intimidation was used against the victim, therefore making them incapable of resistance. The victim verbally not consenting to the sexual intercourse is insufficient in building a case; saying No” is not enough. Thus, in circumstances where no weapons or threatening violence were used, the victim not physically fighting back makes it impossible to legally prove rape (Ishikawa). In the eyes of the law, there is no such thing as freezing in fear.
In Japan, sexual assault is not seen as a serious crime. Rape (without injury) is categorized as shinkokuzai, an offence that cannot be prosecuted without a complaint by the victim (Yatagawa). If an accusation is not made, or later retracted, the case falls apart (Yatagawa and Nakano 7-9). Rape prosecutions are fairly rare and even if a suspect is found guilty, many dodge prisons by apologizing and paying damages. According to an anonymous survey conducted in 2017 by the Japanese Cabinet Office, one in thirteen women disclosed that they have been forced to engage in sexual intercourse and one in sixty seven men said the same. Yet, out of the same pool surveyed, less than three percent of the women and nine percent of the men reported the incident or consulted the police. Moreover, sixty percent of the women in the group and forty percent of the men said that they have never told a single person about their rape (Usuda). This is known as the ‘silent rape reaction,” where a victim does not report the crime to police or tell anyone else. There is a systematic culture of silence around sexual assault in Japan.
The Japanese Flower Demo
It became a shared sentiment in Japan that this series of unjust acquittals were the tipping point. Enough was enough. Changes to the penal code and the treatment of sexual assault victims needed to be made. However, Japan’s reaction to Shiori Ito coming forward with her story made it very clear that change could not be brought about in the same way as it had in America. A deep awareness of Japanese culture of privacy and silence warned survivors and allies of the repercussions if they did not plan it right. So, they joined together to create the Japanese Flower Demo movement as an act of creative resistance against the rape culture of Japan. The demonstrations were successful in sparking not only a conversation, but also in bringing real change to Japan.
Image from the first Flower Demo held in Nagoya on June 11, 2019. Image Credit: All That’s Interesting/Charly Triballeau
The Japanese Flower Demo movement was created by feminist Minori Kitahana. Frustrated by the verdicts and by the criticism of those who questioned the acquittals, she called out for change on her social media platforms. She explained, Discussing sexual violence from the victim’s viewpoint is a world trend, and it’s time to reform the Japanese legal system and society that cannot do that” (Margaritoff). On April 11th 2019, over five hundred women gathered in front of Tokyo Station with flowers in hand. One by one, sexual assault survivors recounted their own stories to the listening crowd who circled around in support. For many, this was the first time speaking about what happened to them. The audio and video recordings were tightly controlled that night as most of the women did not want to be revealed on social media. Almost no women gave their names (Tamura). The goal of the demonstration was reforming the criminal code from the victim’s perspective.” (FlowerDemo.org) The flowers held by the survivors and allies represented grace, solidarity, and resilience (Margaritoff). They conveyed the message: We believe you and we are on your side” (?About: Flower Demo”).” For a year following the first gathering in Tokyo, each month on the 11th, a flower demonstration was held. As it gained momentum, the movement spread to all 47 prefectures and regions. At the first event, only a handful of survivors attended, but by the last event, hundreds of people stood together in solidarity (Tamura). Gradually, more news outlets began writing pieces on the demonstrations, which were almost all done in a sobering manner without disclosing the identity of the speakers. And unlike when Shiori Ito spoke her truth several years prior, the population did not condemn the protesters. The demonstrations achieved what the law could not: it validated the survivors’ viewpoints.
While both grassroots movements relied on the voices of the victims to spark change, the Flower Demo movement was smaller and quieter than the MeToo movement. There were no big marches and few big voices promoting it. The Japanese Flower Demo movement was successful because of its subdued unobtrusive nature. By controlling any media coverage, it provided speakers a safe environment to share their stories. The demonstrations allowed privacy and protected the identity of the survivors. This is in stark contrast to the MeToo movement where participants had to attach a name and face to their stories. Anonymity is not an option on social media when speaking out about sexual assault: if a victim wishes to remain anonymous then too often his/her story will not be taken seriously. With the emphasis on collectivism in Japanese culture and the public shame associated with speaking out, it took an enormous amount of courage to admit that they were sexually assaulted in a society that suppressed their voice. Had the demonstrations been flashier and louder, fewer Japanese survivors would have participated in it.
Image from the first Flower Demo held in Nagoya on June 11, 2019. Image credit: The Asahi Shimbun/Jun Ueda
Change Brought About By the Movement
Nearly a year after the first Flower Demo event, on March 12th 2020, demonstrators received their first big victory. The Nagoya High Court scrapped the lower court acquittal against the nineteen year old daughter who was raped by her father. The high court sentenced the fifty year old man to ten years in prison and recognized that the victim was unable to resist her father (?Scrapping Acquittal” ). Presiding Judge Mitsuru Goriuchi stated:
Since the daughter had been continually sexually abused since she was in junior high school, she was deprived of her will to resist the father and was in a psychological state where it was extremely difficult to reject his demands…The man committed the despicable crime by taking advantage of her condition. The physical and psychological pain she suffered is extremely severe and serious, as the real perpetrator is her father (?Scrapping Acquittal”).
In a statement to the press, the daughter confessed, I have been full of frustration for being harmed by my own father. I finally feel a little relieved” (?Scrapping Acquittal”). Supporters of the survivor and participants in the demonstrations held up signs reading victory” in front of the court as the verdict was read.
While the grassroots movement no longer gathers in demonstration, the participants began an important conversation in Japan, shining a light on the costs of sexual assault. In February 2020, the Japanese Ministry of Justice announced that they would establish an investigative commission to deliberate upon penal code revisions pertaining to sex crimes (Usuda). The voices of the survivors in the Japanese Flower Demo were the main driving force leading to this decision.
For any act of resistance to be successful, cultural norms need to be respected. This is especially important in countries like Japan where cultural traditions are highly valued and strictly adhered to. In addition to the Flower Demo movement, modern Japan has executed other unique protests that incorporated the ethos of Japanese culture. For example, in 2011, the Japanese youth staged public demonstrations to protest the use of nuclear weapons and nuclear power. The event, although larger in size, was quiet and contained. Participants were encouraged to wear masks decorated with fun stickers. There were no rallying cries or calls for violence; they simply marched in silence together. Just as Japanese culture often expects women to do whatever is best for the men in their lives, the youth are expected to respect their elders (Hoban). This includes complying to all of their decisions. By protesting the country’s stance on nuclear energy, they were going against the views of their elders. So, in order to be successful, they could not abandon all traditions. They needed to protest respectfully without causing too much of a disturbance.
As shown by the success of the Japanese Flower Demo and the protests against nuclear energy, acts of creative resistance need to be adapted to Japanese culture. To create big changes in Japan, one needs to start small. The Japanese Flower Demo might not have been effective in countries where freedom of expression and gender equality are more culturally accepted. The reverse is also true: Japan could not have successfully adopted any other countries’ creative resistance demonstrations. The Japanese Flower Demo was successful because it was created by Japanese citizens who had been pushed to their limits. They understood the oppression they were fighting against because they were living through it.
Image of supporters holding a sign reading victory” in Japanese in front of the Nagoya High Court. Image Credit: The Japan Times
Author: Audrey Cicerchia
For my final project in Professor Shailen Mishra’s ENGL 110 class during the Spring 2020 semester, I was tasked with writing an argumentative essay diving into how a community protested by creative means against unfair treatment . Almost immediately I thought of the tremendous impact that social media and a hashtag had on the United States in the past year. #MeToo created a public platform where survivors of sexual harassment and assault could share their stories and hold their perpetrators accountable. However, the success of the movement relied on protection of those who spoke out under freedom of speech.
After conducting preliminary research on the #MeToo movement, I shifted my focus towards exploring countries where the movement did not take off due to the consequences of survivors telling their truth on such a public forum. The flower demonstrations that took place in Japan captured my interest. I was surprised to learn that the demonstrations, which only involved the quiet gathering of survivors in solidarity with flowers in hand, had the power not only to influence the courts to reexamine previous acquittals of sexual assault offenders, but also to inspire real conversation about Japan’s strict rape laws.
My paper investigates how a pervasive collectivist mindset and culture of silence required a more docile approach than the #MeToo movement to allow the voices of survivors to be heard instead of immediately being shut down. Without extensive media coverage, those who spoke were given the gift of anonymity, which encouraged many survivors to participate in the movement. I want to show that creatively tailoring acts of protest to individual cultures can have a strong, positive impact on their efficacy. After researching the Japanese flower demonstrations and the prevalence of sexual harassment across the globe, I want to continue to explore the subject. Writing this paper influenced me to add a Women’s Studies minor to my degree.
Instructor: Shailen Mishra
The theme of the assignment that led to this essay was creative protest, meaning the strategic and novel means a particular marginalized community adopts to get their voices heard and propel meaningful change. I take a blend of genre studies and writing process approach in my writing pedagogy. So for this project writing advanced in stages: starting with topic idea presentation, submission of preliminary research, carrying out genre analysis through a specific questionnaire (in this case the genre was academic research essay), rough draft, student conference, peer feedback, setting of revision goals, and final draft. Audrey chose to write about the #MeToo movement in Japan after deliberating over her own deep interests. She followed this with exceptional work on genre analysis and extensive preliminary research. Audrey’s strength as a writer was her clear understanding of what constitutes an academic argument; hence, she was in hunt for a nuanced and refreshing claim. During the student conference, through dialogue and mutual brainstorming, she gravitated toward the insight that Japan’s #MeToo movement is qualitatively different from the rest of the world because the Japanese sexual assault survivors had to adapt the movement to their own traditions and cultural sensibility. She executed that spark of idea with further research, rigorous revision, and compelling writing.
Works Cited
Aichi: Prosecutors Appeal Innocent Ruling over Man’s Alleged Rape of Daughter.” Tokyo Reporter, Tokyo Reporter Media, 10 Apr. 2019,tokyoreporter.com/crime/aichi-prosecutors-appeal-innocent-ruling-in-mans-alleged-rape-daughter/.
Dussich, John, Yoshiko Fujiwara, and Asami Sagisaka. “Decisions not to report sexual assault in Japan.” AIC Conference Proceedings. Australian Institute of Criminology, 1996.
About Flower Demo in English.” FlowerDemo, translated by Elif Erdogan, 2019, flowerdemo.org/about-us-in-english.
Hoban, Alex. How to Protest Like the Japanese.” Vice, 13 Apr. 2011, vice.com/en/article/nn4web/how-to-protest-like-the-japanese.
Hollingsworth, Julia. She Won a Civil Case Against Her Alleged Rapist — but Japan’s Rape Laws Need an Overhaul, Campaigners Say.” CNN, 23 Dec. 2019, cnn.com/2019/12/22/asia/shiori-ito-rape-laws-japan-intl-hnk/index.html.
Ishikawa, Sachiko. Japan’s Flower Demos: A Report from the Scene.” Unseen Japan, 18 Feb. 2020, unseenjapan.com/japans-flower-demos-report-from-scene/
Usuda, Kohei . Flower Demo, a Catharsis for Sexual Assault Survivors.” Voice Up Japan, 9 Mar. 2020, voiceupjapan.org/2020/03/28/flower-demo-a-catharsis-for-sexual-assault-survivors/.
Scrapping Acquittal, Nagoya Court Hands Man 10 Years for Raping Daughter.” The Japan Times, Kyodo Jiji Press, 13 Mar. 2020,
Margaritoff, Marco. String Of Acquittals In Japanese Rape Cases Sparks Mass Protests.”.” All That’s Interesting, 14 June 2019,allthatsinteresting.com/japanese-flower-demo-rape-protests
Sieg, Linda. Outrage at Acquittals in Rape Cases Sparks Calls to Fix Japanese Law.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 11 June 2019, reuters.com/article/uk-japan-rape-law-feature-idUKKCN1TA0V0.
Stone, Meighan, and Rachel Vogelstein. Celebrating #MeToo’s Global Impact.” Foreign Policy, 7 Mar. 2019, foreignpolicy.com/2019/03/07/metooglobalimpactinternationalwomens-day/.
Sumner C et al. 1996. International victimology: selected papers from the 8th international symposium. Conference proceedings series no. 27. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/proceedings/proceedings27
Tamura, Mariko. ?’Flower Demo’ Fighting Sexual Violence in Japan.” Kyodo News, 5 Mar. 2020 english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/03/de1a32818b0e-feature-flower-demo-fighting-sexual-violence-in-japan.html.
Yamawaki, Niwako. “Differences Between Japanese and American College Students in Giving Advice About Help Seeking to Rape Victims.” The Journal of Social Psychology, 147.5, 2007 pp. 511-530, DOI: 10.3200/SOCP.147.5.511-530
Yatagawa, Tomoe, and Mami Nakano. Sexual Violence and the Japanese Criminal Justice System.” Voices from Japan, No. 21, Oct. 2008, pp. 4-13.
#MeToo Is at a Crossroads in America. Around the World, It’s Just Beginning.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 8 May 2020, washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/08/metoo-around-the-world/.
Paper Prompt
The theme of this assignment will be creative resistance. You will produce an argumentative work chronicling how a community or group protested against the unjust and unfair treatment of them through creative means. For example, graffiti was used as a protest art in 2011 Egyptian revolution; hip hop’s genesis lies in protest culture and exposing the marginalization of African Americans; Gandhi’s Salt March was an extraordinary example of protest strategy founded on the principles such as nonviolence and non-cooperation; in the social media sphere, hashtag activism has afforded voices and resistances to emerge that was not possible beforehand. The examples are plenty, and you’re encouraged to dive into history or travel” to the smallest corner of the world to identify a form of creative protest that you wish to write about in this project. After thorough research, you will produce an argumentative essay on your topic.
What do I mean by argumentative essay? It means that your essay must have an argument or claim, which you want to corroborate by employing evidence, research, examples, and deep analysis. A few examples of argumentative essay genres are academic research essay, research analysis paper, podcast, video essay, etc. We will only focus on the academic research essay genre and the length of your essay needs to be between 2000-2400 words. For better understanding of what I mean by argumentative essay, check this article from PurdueOWL.
One of the pitfalls of writing a long argumentative essay like this is that students think they won’t have enough to say and they will run out of ideas quickly. So they try to compensate by taking a wide swipe at their topics. They think they should say everything possible (or imaginable under the sun) about their topic to meet the word count. The result is an unfocused paper that’s saying everything but in reality nothing specific. I want you guys to avoid this pitfall. I want you to be selective, smart, and purposeful in limiting the scope of your topic early on so that you end up presenting something insightful and refreshing in this project. Carefully choosing the focus or scope of your topic will be the key and beyond that your ability to conduct research will determine the quality of your paper. You can develop your paper’s focus along one of the following lines:
- What creative principle or rationale made a particular protest successful and why? (example)
- Conduct a deep analysis of the creativity involved in certain protest strategies (example)
- What are some of the creative ways a marginalized community chose to get its grievances heard and the implications of that? (example, From the Margins to Mainstream: the Political Power of Hip-Hop” or Dissidence and Creativity“)
- Creative activism of the modern times and how it differs from the past (example)
- Strengths and limitations of certain protest, and the implications it might have (example)
- Creative protest strategies or philosophy of an individual
This list is not exhaustive. I am open to other angles of inquiry on creative protest. The important point is that your topic should have a focus and a clear argument.
The expected word count for this project is set at 2000-2400. You’re required to incorporate and cite at least ten sources, and at least two of them should be scholarly. The concept of scholarly” will be defined along these criteria outlined by UC Berkeley’s library. Please use a standard citation style with in-text citation, followed by a References section at the end. You can opt for MLA or APA.