Town turns against woman who accused mayor

A Japanese councillor who accused a mayor of sexual assault has been voted out of office by residents after colleagues argued that she had damaged the town’s reputation.

Shoko Arai, the only female assembly member in the town of Kusatsu, which is northwest of Tokyo, was ousted after the mayor and other assembly members, having tried and failed to remove her once already, orchestrated a recall election Sunday.

The case highlights the difficulties faced by women who come forward with allegations of sexual assault in Japan, where such episodes are underreported and rarely discussed openly.

“This is a very, very typical Japanese reaction against female victimsurvivors,” said Hiroko Goto, an expert in law and gender at Chiba University.

Last November, Arai accused Kusatsu’s mayor, Nobutada Kuroiwa, of forcing her into sexual relations in 2015. Kuroiwa has denied the accusation and filed a defamation complaint against her.

The following month, threequarters of the town’s councillors voted to expel Arai from the assembly, a decision that was overturned by the government of Gunma prefecture, which includes Kusatsu.

Kuroiwa and other assembly members then gathered enough signatures from residents to request a recall election. They argued that Arai lacked evidence for her claim and that news coverage of the case had damaged the reputation of Kusatsu, a town of about 6,200 people whose economy relies on tourists visiting its hot springs.

Residents voted in favor of recalling Arai, 2,542 to 208.

“I think that the referendum result doesn’t reflect the will of citizens,” Arai said via email Wednesday, adding that she believed it had been swayed by the mayor and his supporters.

She added in the statement that a petition she had started against the recall election had gathered over 12,000 signatures and that she planned to continue her political activities.

Kuroiwa said the vote had protected the “dignity of the town,” according to The Asahi Shimbun, a national newspaper.

Arai’s case also highlights the need for more female politicians, she said, adding that she believed the outcome might have been different if there had been more assemblywomen in Kusatsu who were able to amplify Arai’s voice.