The #KuToo movement is part of a recent shift towards resisting traditional views of gender roles and fighting gender discrimination in Japan. Notably, it emerged shortly after the Tokyo Medical University entrance exam scandal. The school, one of the most highly regarded medical schools in Japan, was forced to admit that female applicants' exams scores had been regularly adjusted for more than ten years so as to lower the number of female students accepted. Several other medical schools were later revealed to have done the same. It also came after journalist Shiori Itō publicly spoke out against sexual harassment following her thwarted attempts to report her own sexual assault by Noriyuki Yamaguchi. Itō faced substantial backlash for speaking out, including being called an embarrassment and behaving immorally to advance her career. The harassment and threats became so severe that she eventually moved to the UK. However, this did not stop her from pursuing a civil case, which she won. She was chosen as one of TIME's 100 most influential people in 2020 for her legal and social justice work in the Me Too movement.
