Dec 09 (theguardian.com) - The only female member of a town assembly in Japan has been voted out of her seat after she accused the mayor of sexual assault, in a setback for the country’s nascent #MeToo movement.
Shoko Arai, until Monday a councillor in Kusatsu, a popular hot spring resort north-west of Tokyo, lost her seat after more than 90% of residents voted to recall her, saying she had damaged the town’s reputation, Japanese media reported.
Her plight has highlighted the male domination of local and national politics in Japan, which performs poorly in international comparisons of female representation in politics.
Arai claimed in an e-book published in November last year that the Kusatsu mayor, Nobutada Kuroiwa, had “forced her into sexual relations†in his office in 2015.
She said Kuroiwa, 73, had “suddenly pulled me closer, kissed me and pushed [me] down on the floorâ€, adding that she “couldn’t push him backâ€.
Kuroiwa has denied sexually assaulting Arai, saying his office door and curtains were open on the day of the alleged incident. He has filed a defamation complaint with local police.
Arai’s allegations triggered an angry backlash among male members of the assembly and a campaign of personal attacks against the assemblywoman, who had represented her seat as an independent since 2011.
Fellow councillors voted her out of office in December last year, but the move was overturned by prefectural authorities. Local politicians, who accused her of “harming the dignity†of the council, then gathered enough signatures to hold a recall vote.
Agence France-Presse quoted a town hall spokesman as saying that of the 2,835 residents who voted, 2,542 had backed her removal.
