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Ms Ito reacts after the court case
A Japanese court has ordered a high-profile reporter to pay 3.3 million yen ($30,000; £22,917) in damages to a journalist who accused him of rape.
Shiori Ito had accused Noriyuki Yamaguchi of raping her in 2015 while she was unconscious.
Prosecutors said there was not enough evidence for a criminal case, so Ms Ito brought a civil case.
Ms Ito has become a symbol of the #MeToo movement in a country where people rarely report sexual assault.
“I’m so happy,” said 30-year-old Ms Ito, who held up a sign which read “victory” after the verdict was announced.
A 2017 government survey found that only 4% of rape victims reported the crime to the police.
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Shiori Ito holds up a sign saying “victory”
According to Ms Ito, 53-year-old Mr Yamaguchi – who is said to have close ties to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – had in 2015 invited her to dinner to discuss a possible job opportunity.
She suspects she may have been drugged, saying that when she regained consciousness, she was “in a hotel room and he was on top of me”.
Ms Ito was a intern at news agency Reuters when the alleged rape occurred.
Mr Yamaguchi was then Washington bureau chief for the Tokyo Broadcasting System, a major media firm in Japan.
Investigations were opened but then dropped by police, citing insufficient evidence.
Ms Ito said police forced her to re-enact the alleged rape with a life-sized doll while male officers looked on.
Ms Ito filed a civil lawsuit against Mr Yamaguchi seeking 11 million yen ($100,517 ; £76,758) in compensation.
Mr Yamaguchi, who denies any wrongdoing and claims the sex was consensual, filed a counter-suit seeking 130 million yen ($1,187,941 ;£907,135) in compensation.
He will now have to pay Ms Ito $30,000 in damages, but there remains no criminal case against him.
Under Japan’s rape law, prosecutors must prove violence or intimidation was involved or that the victim was “incapable of resistance” – placing an unfairly high burden on victims.
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