Caption: Photo “Meili”, from Twitter. Used with permission. In December 2017, the #MeToo movement finally reached Japan after three women decided to speak out against their abusers. The experiences of these three women provide insights into the challenges Japanese women face when speaking out about their experiences of sexual assault. While the #MeToo movement is generally regarded to have started in October 2017, when multiple women spoke out about their experiences of being allegedly sexually assaulted by Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, the movement got its start in Japan in May 2017 when the hashtag #FightTogetherWithShiori started to trend on Japanese Twitter. The hashtag was created in support of a woman, known simply at the time as “Shiori”, who appeared on television to allege she was sexually assaulted by a well-known journalist in 2015. In October 2017, thanks to support across Japan and around the world, Shiori Ito decided to reveal her full name and published a book, “Black Box.” @ouenshiori 伊藤詩織さんの『ブラックボックス』拝読しました。伊藤詩織さんを応援します。読みながら、ここには書けないこと、たくさん思い出しました。ありがとうございます。 pic.twitter.com/kwMdeLh0am — 津田摩耶子 (@SOBRANIE_pinks) January 15, 2018 I read Ms. Shiori Ito's “Black Box”. I support Ms. Shiori Ito. While reading, it brought back memories of many things that I couldn't write here. Thank you. Shiori Ito, who is best known simply as ‘Shiori’, also frequently appears in numerous interviews both seeking justice and to highlight the problem of sexual assault in Japan. After Shiori's debut in the public spotlight, and as the #MeToo movement in the United States and other countries gained momentum, other women started making their voices heard on social media. In December 2017, a blogger known simply as Hachu helped bring the #MeToo hashtag to Japan after her story was published by Buzzfeed Japan. Hachu, a popular writer and blogger, revealed that she had been sexually harassed by one of her managers, a well-known creative director in Japan's advertising industry, while she was working at the advertising giant Dentsu. Hachu's tweet about the Buzzfeed story was shared on Twitter 17,000 times: 元電通の岸勇希さんのセクハラ・パワハラについて証言した記事が公開されました。数か月に及ぶ取材中も、自分と相手の実名を出すことへの葛藤がありましたが #metoo のムーブメントが背中を押してくれました。リスクを背負って証言してくれた関係者の皆様に感謝しています。https://t.co/Ymy4UOiCpu — はあちゅう (@ha_chu) December 17, 2017 An article about my own account of sexual harassment and workplace bullying by Kishi Yuki, formerly of Dentsu, has now been published. During the interviews over the past several months, I struggled with whether or not to go public or name the perpetrator, but the #MeToo movement have given me the last push. I’m grateful to all those concerned who have taken the risk to testify. Hachu's story, which was first published in mid-December, prompted others to share their stories. In late January 2018, a third “#MeToo” story generated conversation on social media in Japan. Web magazine wezzy reported that stage actress Shimizu Meili — who goes by ‘Meili’ on social media and in interviews — disclosed on Twitter that she had been sexually assaulted by her stage producer Takeuchi Tadayoshi. Tadayoshi produces the stage genre of ‘2.5D’ anime theater which features dramatizations of Japanese manga set to music. Meili met him for the first time on that fateful day. 2.5D theater enjoys a large fanbase so Meili went public with the allegation first by tweeting about her sexual assault but without naming the perpetrator. Meili compiled her own Tweets into a Twitter Moment entitled “The Reason I Cried at the February Performance”. 私が今年の2月の舞台で 泣いた理由です。 レイプをされた事によって自分の身体が汚い、嫌いだと思うようになり、役者を辞めるかどうか この一年弱、活動自体を休みつつ悩んできました。 — 清水 めいり? (@mememeily) December 17, 2017 This is the reason why I cried at the performance in February. Because I was raped, I could only think my body as filthy thing, and I hated it. I contemplated for almost a year to quit my acting career while taking some time off from the activity itself. After her December Twitter posts went viral, they were picked up by web magazine wezzy. Later that month, when Hachu's #MeToo story was reported by Buzzfeed, Meili felt prompted to name her own accuser. What happened over the next month provides insights into the struggle faced by victims of sexual assault in Japan. While it was difficult for Hachu to prove that her manager at Dentsu has made sexual advances to her, Shiori and Meili had an even more difficult challenge trying to prove they were sexually assaulted. Shiori's case was dropped after being investigated by prosecutors, while police never even referred Meili's case to prosecutors in the first place. Shiori and Meili's difficulty persuading prosecutors an assault had taken place is the result of existing Japanese law.