Japan’s Military Looks for More Women After Harassment Claims

Japan is undergoing its biggest military build-up since World War II. But it is struggling to fill its ranks with women.

The Japanese military has faced a series of sexual harassment cases in recent years. The number of women who signed up to join the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) decreased by 12 percent in the year that ended in March 2023. The drop followed several years of notable growth.

Some victims of harassment have said the culture within the military may prevent women from signing up.

It has been nine months since the defense ministry promised to take serious measures. But it still has no plans to create a national system for reviewing anti-harassment training standards. The information comes from two defense ministry officials responsible for training.

An independent group of experts had recommended that the defense ministry create such a system. The government-appointed group identified in a report published in August that the military provided poor harassment education. The training made only limited mention of sexual harassment. There was also a lack of oversight of such training.

One servicewoman is taking legal action against the government over an alleged sexual harassment incident. She said in an interview that the education she received over the past 10 years was ineffective.

Women make up just 9 percent of military service members in Japan. In the United States, by comparison, 17 percent of military service members are women.

The defense ministry told Reuters reporters that it has held harassment prevention talks by outside experts since 2023. It did not respond to questions about whether it would take the independent group's recommendation to provide oversight of training.

Rina Gonoi is a former solider. She went public with allegations of sexual abuse in 2022. After she came forward, the defense ministry found more than 170 alleged sexual harassment incidents in the SDF.

Another alleged victim was an Okinawa-based servicewoman. She accused a senior official of making sexual comments toward her in 2013. She was then publicly named in harassment training materials given to her colleagues in 2014, she told Reuters. The person who allegedly made the sexual comments, however, was not identified in the materials.

Reuters does not name alleged victims of sexual harassment. Her allegations were supported by documents in the legal action she filed last year.

Ineffective training

The defense ministry offers yearly online training on general harassment. It also provides training materials to officers for in-person sessions. But it does not follow how or when the officers carry out harassment training, the two defense officials said.

In April, Reuters attended a harassment prevention course given to over 100 mid-ranking military officers at a base outside Tokyo.

Instructor Keiko Yoshimoto presented harassment as a communication problem. She centered discussions on generational differences.

"Generational differences make it hard for people to communicate," she said. She added that military service people must understand the basics of communication before they can fully understand sexual harassment.

Gonoi and the Okinawa-based servicewoman have criticized the system as ineffective.

"People would say 'everyone put up with that kind of behavior, it was normal back in our time,' – but these issues are being passed down to my generation because nothing was done to stop it," the servicewoman told Reuters in March.

Fear of complaints

The defense ministry officials said that training on sexual harassment mostly takes place within a larger anti-harassment course. At the two-hour training session that Reuters attended, about two minutes were related to sexual harassment.

The defense ministry officials said it was difficult to give standardized training on harassment. That is because service members in high-stress environments may give orders in a direct way that is unusual in other environments, they said.

The two officers said there were concerns within the military that too much attention on harassment could create operational issues. One officer suggested it might lead to unfair complaints.

I'm Dan Novak.

Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting by Reuters.

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review — v. an act of carefully looking at or examining the quality or condition of something or someone

standard — n. a level of quality, achievement, etc., that is considered acceptable or desirable

oversight — n. the act or job of directing work that is being done

alleged — adj. accused of having done something wrong or illegal but not yet proven guilty

interview — n. a meeting at which people talk to each other in order to ask questions and get information

respond — v. to say or write something as an answer to a question or request