TOKYO – Japanese journalist Shiori Ito has apologised for using parts of footage without permission in her documentary Black Box Diaries (2024), which she directed based on her own experience as a sexual assault survivor, her website showed on Oct 26.
According to an apology statement on her website, Ito – whose work was nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film at the Academy Awards earlier in 2025 – filmed the account of a taxi driver describing what he saw before the incident without obtaining his consent, along with other material used without proper permission.
Ito, 36, said she tried to reach the driver by phone for more than six months before Black Box Diaries’ release in countries outside Japan but was unable to make contact. She said she therefore used the footage as it was.
“However, this decision was wrong, and we have caused great distress and discomfort to the driver and his family,” she said in the statement, adding, “I also apologise for continuing to use the footage during negotiations.”
Shiori Ito in Black Box Diaries.
PHOTO: THE PROJECTOR
“I would also like to express my sincere gratitude for generously accepting my apology and for allowing us to use a new version of the scene,” she said.
The film documents the events that led Ito to accuse former TV reporter Noriyuki Yamaguchi of raping her after they dined together in Tokyo in 2015. He denies the allegation.
After Yamaguchi was not indicted due to a lack of evidence, Ito filed a damages suit and wrote a book about her experiences that made her a symbol of Japan’s #MeToo movement. KYODO NEWS
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