Harassment blamed as Japan's military lacks women
STORY: At a Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces camp in Tokyo these mid-ranking officers are discussing their preferred flavor of potato chips.
And it's all part of learning to combat an enemy within: what some critics say is the force's entrenched culture of sexual harassment.
The session aimed to bridge generational gaps and improve communication, and was led by career consultant Keiko Yoshimoto, who regularly trains Japan's personnel.
Yoshimoto views harassment as largely a communication problem, suggesting that understanding different generations can help prevent it.
"Harassment tends to occur where there’s a lack of communication, and generational differences make it hard for people to communicate with each other. Then misunderstandings happen, you don’t know what to say because you don’t feel like you can get along, and you might feel ignored. I think that’s how people misunderstand each other."
Japan's armed forces need to recruit more women as part of a military buildup.
But last year the number of women applying to join actually fell by 12%, which some blame on fear of harassment.
That follows incidents highlighting sexual misconduct in the services, including a victorious court ruling for Rina Gonoi, a former SDF member who was sexually assaulted.
Her case sparked a ministry probe into harassment within the male-dominated world of the SDF, uncovering over 170 other incidents.
However, Reuters found that the Defense Ministry is yet to act on the recommendations of an expert panel that studied the issue, including establishing a national system for reviewing anti-harassment training.
In one case dating back to 2013, an SDF member says she was identified in sexual harassment training materials issued to a unit. She is currently suing the government for damages.
The woman, who requested anonymity as she still works with the SDF, says she found she had been identified in the materials while the aggressor's identity was protected:
"I was at loss for words (after knowing that my name was in the training material). I felt like I wasn’t treated as a human being but rather an object, and I was also shocked that this group of people were so far out of common sense."
The Japanese Defense Ministry has an online harassment course and supplies officers with training materials, but doesn’t guide them on teaching the subject or track the training’s implementation.
The ministry said in an email response to Reuters’ questions that harassment "must never be allowed, as it destroys mutual trust between service members and undermines their strength."
But the woman in the 2013 case says the training remains "inadequate", with bad habits still being handed down to a new generation of officers.
