In Japan Rape Cases, 'No' Still Means No Conviction

choi

Mari Yamamoto and Jake Adelstein, In Japan Rape Cases, 'No' Still Means No Conviction, and Protests Are Growing. The Daily Beast, June 17, 2019.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/in ... rotests-are-growing

Note:
(a) a similar report: Hundreds Protest Across Japan over Acquittals of Men in Sex Crimes. Kyodo News, June 12, 2019
(acquittals in Nagoya and Fukuoka)
(b) The first photo shows a woman holding a sign. Generally speaking, the statement in Japan's "Me Too" movement is: "あなたに起きたことは私の問題でもある。あなたを信じる。"  (Google translate: What happened to you is also my problem. I believe you.)

(c) "Incest is not a crime in Japan."
(i) Peter Singer, Should Adult Sibling Incest Be Against the Law?  Japan Times, Oct 10, 2014
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opi ... e-law/#.XQfx4HZKiuU
("Incest between [consenting] adults is not a crime in all jurisdictions. In France, the offense was abolished when Napoleon introduced his new penal code in 1810. Consensual adult incest is also not a crime in Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Russia, China, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Côte d’Ivoire, Brazil, Argentina and several other Latin American countries")
(ii) "In 1881 the incest law in Japan was abolished, this allowed incest and children of incest. However, the Civil Code [民法] of Japan disallows family marriages."  from the Web.
(iii)
(A) laws regarding incest in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La ... n_the_United_States
("In all but two states (and the special case of Ohio, which 'targets only parental figures'), incest is criminalized between consenting adults. In New Jersey and Rhode Island, incest between consenting adults (16 or over for Rhode Island, 18 or over for New Jersey) is not a criminal offense, though marriage is not allowed in either state") (citation omitted)
(B) Ben Horowitz and Louis C Hochman, Q&A: Is Incest Really Legal in New Jersey?  NJ.com, Jan 20, 2015
https://www.nj.com/news/2015/01/ ... s_to_marry_dad.html
("Incest was outlawed in New Jersey until 1979 * * * However, New Jersey law still bars a person from marrying his or her parent or child, brother or sister, niece or nephew, or aunt or uncle. Any such marriage would be considered void. * * * Rhode Island decriminalized incestuous relationships in 1989, though like in New Jersey, marriages are banned and void")

NJ.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NJ.com

(d)
(i) In English there are impaired and uncapacited rape victims, rendered by alcohol or drugs.
(ii) Criminal code of Japan in 2017 replaced 強姦罪 with 強制性交罪.
(iii) "writer and feminist Minori KITAHARA 北原 みのり, along with incest and rape survivor Jun YAMAMOTO 山本 潤 and feminist publisher Akiko MARSUO 松尾 亜紀子"

The protest in Japan (after these verdicts), where protesters hold flowers, is held on the eleventh day of each month.
(iv) "Kitahara opened the first female-owned adult toy store for women in Japan, Love Piece Club [Japanese name of the store is in katakana: ラブピースクラブ; lovepiececlub.com], in 1996. The shop later became the center of a controversy when artist Megumi IGARASHI 五十嵐 恵 a.k.a. Rokudenashiko ;see (e) for definition]  ろくでなし子 was arrested on public obscenity charges for releasing a 3D model of her vagina online."

There is NO need to read further.

(e) Japanese-English dictionary:
* okiru 起きる 【おきる】 (vi): "(1) to get up; to rise <6時に起きた。 I got up at six> * * * (3) to occur (usu. of unfavourable incidents); to happen; to take place"
   The 起きた "okita" is the past tense of the verb okiru.
* kin-shin-sō-kan 近親相姦 【きんしんそうかん】 (n): "incest"
* gōkan 強姦【ごうかん】
* jun-gōkan-zai 準強姦罪 【じゅんごうかんざい】 (n): "{law} (crime of) incapacitated rape; crime of sexual assault against somebody who is intoxicated, asleep or otherwise unable to consent or resist"
* kōkyo-funō 抗拒不能 【こうきょふのう】 (n): "{law} inability to resist"
* rokudenashi ろくでなし 《碌でなし(ateji); 碌で無し(ateji); ろくで無し》 (n): "bum; good-for-nothing; ne'er-do-well"
* musume 娘 【むすめ】 (n): "daughter"
* 実の (adj): "【じつの】 (adj): "(1) true; real; (2) blood-related; biological"
* to-u 問う 【とう】 (vt): "(1) to ask; to inquire; (2) to blame (someone) for; to accuse of; to pursue (question of responsibility); to charge with"
* shi-teki 指摘 【してき】 (n,v): "pointing out"
* sei-deki-jaku-tai 性的虐待 【せいてきぎゃくたい】 (n): "sexual abuse"
* oi-me 負い目(P); 負目 【おいめ】 (n): "(feeling of) indebtedness; feeling obliged"

(f) The Nagoya case:

娘に準強制性交で起訴の父に無罪　「抵抗不能」認定できず. 共同通信社, Apr 4, 2019.
https://www.iza.ne.jp/kiji/event ... 40422480028-n1.html

full text: "平成２９年に愛知県内で抵抗できない状態の実の娘＝当時（１９）＝と性交したとして準強制性交罪に問われた男性被告に、名古屋地裁岡崎支部が「被害者が抵抗不能な状態だったと認定することはできない」として無罪判決（求刑懲役１０年）を言い渡していたことが４日、分かった。判決は３月２６日付。  公判で検察側は「中学２年のころから性的虐待を受け続け、専門学校の学費を負担させた負い目から心理的に抵抗できない状態にあった」と主張。弁護側は「同意があり、抵抗可能だった」と反論した。  鵜飼祐充（うかい・ひろみつ）裁判長は判決で、性的虐待があったとした上で「性交は意に反するもので、抵抗する意志や意欲を奪われた状態だった」と認定した。 一方で被害者の置かれた状況や２人の関係から抵抗不能な状態だったかどうか検討。「以前に性交を拒んだ際受けた暴力は恐怖心を抱くようなものではなく、暴力を恐れ、拒めなかったとは認められない」と指摘した。

my rough translation: In 2017 in Aichi Prefecture [which includes City of Nagoya] the male defendant who was charged with 準強制性交罪 for having sex with his then-19-year-old daughterwho could not resist, was acquited on [Apr] 4th at 名古屋地裁岡崎支部 -- because it can not be said that the victim was made incapable of resisting. The prosecution asked for 10-year jail time.  During the trial, prosecution said that since she was in the second year of junior high school she had been sexually abused, asserting she felt she could not resist, because he was paying her tuition for 専門学校. The defense retorted there was consent and that resistance is possible [if she so chose]. 鵜飼祐充裁判長 ruled that there had been sexual abuse, that intercourse was against her will, that her will and intent to resist was taken from her. He examined whether the daughter could resist, judging from the situation the victim was placed and the relationship of the two. The judge pointed out that before when she refused intercourse, fear of violence did not terrorize her, and therefore he can not hold the daughter could not resist for fear of violence.