At 7pm on an April day in 2019, more than 400 people stood near Tokyo station, one of Japan’s busiest pedestrian areas, with flowers in their hands. It was a protest against four court acquittals of alleged rapists and a notorious case of alleged incest, by a father against his 19-year-old-daughter. Many people, especially women, felt betrayed by the Japanese justice system. The court decisions were seen to cast shame on the survivors and it created a damaging legal precedent, undermining the validity of sexual assault victims and their path to justice.
Since then, Flower Demos have been held on the 11th of every month around the country. And Japan is beginning to slowly shift the legal dial for sexual assault survivors.
In Japan, where an overarching value is placed on conformity, speaking about politics is commonly considered socially taboo. Demonstrations seen in other parts of the world, where people chant criticisms of the government and march down the street holding placards, are considered offensive by many in Japan. Yet, the Flower Demos brought aggrieved people out to discuss their experience and protest the silence behind the societal treatment of women.
