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A former Japanese soldier who came forward with her sexual misconduct case said Monday that harassment was as rampant in her army unit as if “part of daily communication.“
Rina Gonoi filed the case last year with the Defense Ministry, but it was dropped. She demanded it to be reinvestigated earlier this year, saying she had suffered multiple assaults by a number of male colleagues, causing her to give up her military career.
In response, Japan’s army in September acknowledged part of the misconduct and apologized, and last week fired five servicemen and punished four others. The Defense Ministry also announced interim results of a rare organization-wide investigation that found over 100 similar complaints and other forms of misconduct totalling more than 1,400.
In announcing the punishments last Thursday, army chief Yoshihide Yoshida repeated his apology to Gonoi and said he felt a strong sense of responsibility over her sorrow and pain. He also said he took the problem seriously and was determined to eradicate such misconduct.
“At a unit I belonged to, sexual harassment was so rampant it was carried out as if a part of communication and there was a loss of sensitivity,” Gonoi told reporters Monday. She said the punishments in her case were “appropriate,“ but added that other soldiers who looked the other way should have been also held accountable.
