Japan's Self-Defense Forces and Defense Ministry will undergo a comprehensive harassment investigation, the ministry said Tuesday, in a rare move taken by its chief after an allegation by a former female SDF member of sexual assault by colleagues.
The investigation of various kinds of harassment by a defense watchdog was ordered by Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada about a week after Rina Gonoi, 22, submitted a petition of over 100,000 signatures to the ministry on Aug. 31, demanding a thorough independent probe into the case that occurred while she was a member of the Ground Self-Defense Force in August 2021.
Gonoi has alleged three male senior colleagues forced her to the ground by her neck, forced her legs apart, and repeatedly pressed their crotches against her at a training site dormitory in the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima. She claims to have experienced many other incidents of sexual harassment in addition to this particular case.