<figure id="attachment_238111" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 3500px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-238111"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="6e3c0e2f"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/04/aflo_21615206.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-238111" class="wp-caption-text">Director Sion Sono kisses his wife Megumi Kagurazaka at the Venice International Film Festival (&#8217;13).</figcaption></figure>
 Toshio Ishikawa, entertainment reporter, &#8220;The other side of the story: &#8230;&#8230;&#8221;
I&#8217;m not so much saying &#8220;ah&#8221; as I am saying &#8220;as I thought.&#8221;
The allegation of &#8220;sexual coercion&#8221; taking advantage of &#8220;weakness&#8221; has come out again. Since there are only men and women in this world, there will be no end to incidents that take advantage of &#8220;weakness.
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The general public may also be sexually harassed, but because they are not celebrities, it is difficult to bring it to the public&#8217;s attention.
The latest to come under fire is the &#8220;sexual coercion&#8221; allegations made by film director Hideo Sakaki. He allegedly offered to cast her in a movie and pressured her into a sexual relationship.
It may be rude to put it this way, but this is a story that has been common in the entertainment industry for some time.
The relationship between a person who wants to be in a movie and a person who has the &#8220;power to get it&#8221;. Especially in the entertainment industry, if you hit it right, you can make a big difference in your life.
So it is not just a problem in the film industry.
It is a story that also exists in the record industry and the TV industry. With the surfacing of director Sakaki&#8217;s allegations, suspicions also surfaced about actor Hoka Kinoshita, who appeared in one of his films.
 &lt;&#8220;There are some things that are not true, and there are some things that happened about 10 years ago that I don&#8217;t remember, but generally speaking, I am not mistaken. I have never had relations with a woman despite her clear refusal, nor have I ever had relations with a woman using drugs.
Although he denies it, the event will not disappear from women&#8217;s memories even after 10 years.
He was fired from his agency and put on indefinite hiatus from show business. A hiatus, but finding a place to return to may be difficult or impossible.
And now Mr. Sono. Weekly Woman&#8221; reported on Sono&#8217;s allegations of &#8220;sexual coercion.
It all started when a Japanese Hollywood actor, Yuki Matsuzaki, accused Sono of sexual harassment and forced sexual acts on Twitter.
Mr. Matsuzaki is an actor who has appeared in such films as &#8220;The Last Samurai&#8221; and &#8220;Letters from Iwo Jima.
 A friend of mine started going to a &#8220;workshop&#8221; run by Sion Sono and his cronies, where he was taught &#8220;not to trust the office (manager),&#8221; and when he was &#8220;alone,&#8221; he was forced to be physical with them.
 Did you read this and think, &#8220;That&#8217;s exactly what I&#8217;m talking about&#8221;? That&#8217;s how much this was his &#8216;usual method&#8217;. There are dozens of victims.
and even accused Sono of his modus operandi and the number of his victims. In response, Weekly Woman searched for the victims. The actresses who were victims were
 We met at an event and exchanged lines. After that, we decided to have a drink in Shinjuku. There were several of us, and it was true that at that table, he said, &#8216;I&#8217;m messing with a lot of actresses, but the ones I mess with, I give them work. That&#8217;s why I&#8217;m different from other directors.'&#8221;
He testified.
 All the women come to me because they want work.&#8221; 
 &#8220;I&#8217;m the one who made her a big seller.
He is said to have even boldly stated, &#8220;I am a very good person.
 At the time, I was desperate because my goal was to sell myself as an actor. One day, Mr. Sono contacted me and asked me to come to a city hotel in Tokyo. He said, &#8220;I&#8217;ll give you a job. He had been saying that for a long time, so I accepted and headed for the hotel.
He confessed. He later passed an audition and was cast in a movie.
Several other actresses also testified, and even Sono&#8217;s sexual proclivities, which have made her world famous, were blatantly described (Sono has stated that she will take appropriate measures, as some of the statements are untrue).
Although we don&#8217;t hear about it now, we have heard stories of singers who wanted to make a record and were seduced by songwriters, composers, and recording directors, as well as incidents in which the chief producer of a TV station played with the singer&#8217;s body. This was a glimpse of the old &#8220;take-it-or-leave-it&#8221; nature of the entertainment industry.
As a result, there were many stories of record releases and appearances on variety shows. But there was no proof, and the women did not testify, so the stories could not be reported.
Before the &#8220;#Me Too movement&#8221; on social networking sites like today, sexual intercourse was a &#8220;secret&#8221; matter, even if coerced. If you really didn&#8217;t like it, the only way was to file a police report and go to court. The hurdles were quite high.
Mr. Kinoshita has indefinitely suspended his entertainment activities, but will Mr. Sono be able to continue his directing activities? He is prepared to take legal action against Women&#8217;s Weekly, but if he does, various facts will be revealed in the trial.
And this kind of story is likely to continue. There may be people who suddenly find their names mentioned and have their lives as entertainers crushed &#8211; I&#8217;m not sure.

 Born in Tokyo in 1946. He has a unique career path that has taken him from Shochiku's Advertising Department to a women's magazine reporter to an entertainment reporter. He has appeared on "The Wide" and "Information Live Miyaneya" (both on Nippon Television Network Corporation), and currently appears regularly on "Mentai Wide" (Fukuoka Broadcasting System), "Su Matan" (Yomiuri Television), and Rainbow Town FM.

 Toshio Ishikawa, Entertainment Reporter

 Reuters/Afro

 Following in the footsteps of director Hideo Sakaki and actor Houka Kinoshita, another leading Japanese film director has been accused of sexual coercion. This is Sion Sono, the director of "Himizu" and "Shinjuku Swan. The "#MeToo" movement started in the film industry.

Sion Sono, Film Industry: “Me Too Movement” Reveals Bad Habits in the Entertainment Industry

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