Japan Prosecutor Tells Court: ‘My Dignity Was Shattered’World

Hikari came forward in 2024 to accuse Kentaro Kitagawa — who headed the Osaka District Public Prosecutor’s Office at the time of the alleged incident — of raping her six years earlier, in 2018.

She told the court that her alleged attacker had stripped her of her dignity “as a prosecutor, as a woman and as a mother”, and said he did not stop even after she told him she felt sick and wanted to go home.

A trial halted, then resumed

The trial opened in October 2024 but was brought to a halt after Kitagawa withdrew an initial admission of guilt and said the sex had been consensual. Hearings resumed on 27 October 2026 after a pause of about two years.

Hikari has previously said she was not used to drinking strong alcohol and lost her memory partway through an office gathering in 2018. The next thing she knew, she said, she was at Kitagawa’s home and was being raped.

Kitagawa told the court last week that sex had taken place, but he repeated his not-guilty plea and denied that she had been unable to resist, according to reports.

He had been detained for more than two years before being released on bail on 31 October 2026 after paying a bond of 10 million yen, about $63,000.

Few women in Japan speak out about sexual assault, and the high-profile case has put a rare spotlight on how such allegations are handled inside the country’s own justice system. That a former prosecutor is the one bringing the complaint has only added to the attention the trial is receiving.

The road to this week’s testimony has been a long one. Hikari first made her complaint public in 2024, six years after the alleged incident in 2018. The trial then opened in October 2024, only to be halted when Kitagawa withdrew his initial admission of guilt. It was not until 27 October 2026, after a pause of about two years, that the hearings resumed and she was able to give her account in court.