"Black Box Diaries" And Its Legal Aftermath

How Shiori Itō's Memoir Changed Japan's Laws on Rape and Age of Consent

Shiori Itō in “Black Box Diaries”

Japanese women live in a legal paradox. Though Japan’s Constitution—promulgated in 1947 courtesy of the American Occupation—contains a bracing equal rights clause that bars gender discrimination, it has never been enforced. In 2023 the gender wage gap in Japan was 22%, and the motherhood penalty so onerous that women wer…