Court ordered former professor at Waseda University to pay 550,000 yen
“First open the gap” and the university is also responsible for the secondary offense
A former Japanese professor who touched the body of a female student he was teaching and said, “I will make you my woman when I graduate,” was sentenced by a court to pay compensation of 6 million won.
According to the Yomiuri Shimbun on the 8th, the Tokyo District Court ordered Naomi Watanabe (71), a famous literary critic and former professor at the Academy of Literature at Waseda University, and Waseda University to pay a total of 605,000 yen in damages on the 6th.
Previously, Rena Fukazawa (32, writer), who was a student of Watanabe, filed a lawsuit for damages for a total of 6.6 million yen, taking responsibility for sexual violence and secondary harm.
After Fukazawa entered Waseda University’s Graduate School of Contemporary Literature in April 2016, he was invited to dinner several times at the request of his advisor, Watanabe. In April 2017, Watanabe called Fukazawa to her restaurant, saying, “I will show you poetry,” and then made her remarks such as “I will treat you as a woman when you graduate” and “I will make you my woman”, shaking her hair and He rubbed his shoulders and back. At the time, Watanabe was 65 and Fukazawa was 26.
Fukazawa notified the other professors of the damage, but suffered from secondary harm such as “because you showed a gap to the professor” and “didn’t you act to mislead people of the opposite sex?” March 2018 resigned in May.
Fukazawa said, “I was overcome with extreme anxiety that it might adversely affect the evaluation of my degree because it happened while the submission of my master’s thesis was imminent.”
Waseda University admitted to sexual abuse by Professor Watanabe four months following Fukazawa left the school and issued an expulsion measure, but it was treated as a general dismissal, not a disciplinary dismissal.
In the ruling, the court admitted that former professor Watanabe had made sexually offensive remarks and ordered compensation of 550,000 yen. The judge pointed out, “The defendant’s remarks were illegal beyond the permissible range under social norms, causing great mental pain to the plaintiff and at the same time violating his personal rights and the interests of learning in a good environment.”
The court ordered the payment of 55,000 yen in addition to 550,000 yen for secondary offenses such as “showing a gap” that occurred during the damage consultation with Fukazawa.
After dropping out of college, Fukazawa worked as a writer and in 2020 founded the ‘Collection to Not Overlook Bullying in Colleges’. Disseminating information on issues such as sexual harassment in universities.
At a press conference following winning the trial, Fukazawa said, “I was deprived of the support of my life called literature because of the professor’s bullying. I hope the university will not repeat the same mistake.”
Watanabe’s lawyer said, “I am deeply reflecting,” and the university side commented, “I sincerely and deeply apologize to the victim.”
In Japan, as the problem of sexual harassment by professors in universities continues to persist, it is pointed out that the teaching profession needs to wake up.
According to Yomiuri, at least 78 Japanese public university professors were disciplined for sexual harassment and sexual harassment over the five years from 2017 to 2021.
In July of last year, Atsushi Oketa (65), a professor at Otsuma Women’s University in Japan (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo), was arrested by the police on charges of quasi-forced indecent assault. Professor Oketa was accused of harassing her student A (20s) by calling her student A (20s) to his house while having a drink, secretly taking sleeping pills with her student’s drink and making her unconscious, then moving her to her bed.
In March of last year, a man (26, doctoral course) attending Waseda University graduate school disclosed through a press conference that he had been habitually sexually assaulted by a female advisor.
Reporter Kim Tae-gyun
