--- description: Find out why Shiori Ito is one of the 100 most influential people of 2020. title: Shiori Ito: The 100 Most Influential People of 2020 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltece505869415068a/698a125086f68ec1216ef351/time-100-Shiori-Ito.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Sep 22, 2020 # Shiori Ito by Chizuko Ueno  Japanese journalist Shiori Ito holds a banner reading "Victory" outside the Tokyo District Court after a court verdict in Tokyo, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo December 18, 2019\. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. JAPAN OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Japanese journalist Shiori Ito holds a banner reading "Victory" outside the Tokyo District Court after a court verdict in Tokyo, Japan, in this photo taken by Kyodo December 18, 2019\. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. JAPAN OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN TPX IMAGES OF THE DAYKyodo/REUTERS [Shiori Ito](https://time.com/5751893/shiori-ito-japan-metoo-court-win/ "undefined") has forever changed life for Japanese women with her brave accusation of sexual violence against her harasser. Though the accused man, close to political power, escaped criminal prosecution, Ito [won a civil suit](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/18/shiori-ito-symbol-of-japans-metoo-movement-wins-lawsuit-damages "undefined") against him in December. Her victory was widely shared by supporters with great joy. She has pushed other women to promote the [#MeToo movement](https://time.com/5696961/tarana-burke-2020/ "undefined") in Japan and sparked the national flower demonstration, a protest movement against sexual violence, where women simply gather together standing with flowers, telling their stories of victimization. The movements brought forth other cases of sexual assault by a high-ranking bureaucrat and a well-known human-rights journalist. They have also led to activism to reform criminal law, and in June, the government announced a three-year plan to reduce sexual violence in the country. Japanese society is finally refusing to tolerate [sexual violence](https://time.com/5790388/harvey-weinstein-verdict-reaction/ "undefined"). _Ueno is a sociologist and chief director of the Women’s Action Network_ Shiori Ito Is on the 2020 TIME 100 List ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888199/shiori-ito/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888199/shiori-ito/"},"headline":"Shiori Ito","datePublished":"2020-09-22T21:25:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:37.345Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888199/shiori-ito/","keywords":["TIME 100","T100 2020","T100 2020 Pioneers"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltece505869415068a/698a125086f68ec1216ef351/time-100-Shiori-Ito.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltece505869415068a/698a125086f68ec1216ef351/time-100-Shiori-Ito.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888199/shiori-ito/","name":"Shiori Ito"}}]}] ```