Yamaguchi's insistence on sharing her story, and the subsequent outrage her forced public apology caused, feel like familiar aftershocks of the global #MeToo movement . More than a year after the Times published its exposé on Harvey Weinstein , the conversation about sexual harassment and assault continues to spread around the world , from Stockholm to Mumbai — and now, Niigata. But it hasn't been easy: In the World Economic Forum 's index measuring the degree of gender equality, Japan is ranked 110th out of 149. Furthermore, in an interview with CNN , Kukhee Choo, a cultural studies expert at Sophia University in Tokyo, explained that "Japanese culture is still bound by notions that women have to behave in a so-called 'womanly way' to elicit sympathy. 'In Western culture, strong women are respected, but in Japan, even when you're strong you have to perform the victim.'"