The women fighting Japan’s sexual violence stigma.

Rina Gonoi had two dreams. To be a soldier, and to compete in the Olympics as a judo player.

She started judo when she was four years old, trained by her brother, and was 11 when she first saw soldiers in action.

The armed forces, known in Japan as the Self-Defence Forces (SDF), had helped Ms Gonoi and her family in an evacuation centre after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster. The 23-year-old is from Higashi-Matsushima in Miyagi Prefecture - the area worst hit by that catastrophe.

Female soldiers were part of the aid effort. "They gave us food and ran a soup kitchen," Ms Gonoi says.

"They were back and forth bringing hot water for us so we could have a bath. I looked at them and thought 'What a wonderful job.' I thought I would like to work for society - for the people."

Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of sexual assault

Both her dreams were within reach when she joined Japan's army, the Ground Self-Defence Force (GSDF).

Both were shattered by sexual harassment which she experienced "on a daily basis" when she joined her unit after training.

"My breasts were rubbed. I was kissed on the cheek, groped, or grabbed from behind in the hallway - colleagues or superiors would rub themselves against me with people watching," she said.

"Often, I was told things like, 'Give me a blow job'."

Colleagues made remarks about her body, she says: about her breasts being big or small or that her body was large.

August 2021 was a dark turning point.

During a training exercise in the mountains, three of Ms Gonio's male colleagues called her into a tent, where they'd been drinking.

"They were talking about a martial arts technique which involved choking someone and putting them to the ground. They said, 'Gonoi try it' - they pinned me to the bed and choked me."
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