OSAKA — Very few women in Japan speak out about rape, and Hikari, too, kept quiet for years about her alleged assault by her boss, Osaka’s former chief prosecutor.

However, Hikari (not her real name) finally dared to take the step, which came at great cost to her career — she is also a prosecutor — and her personal life. She does not regret it.

“My life has stopped since the assault,” Hikari told AFP in an emotional interview.

“My husband was crying the other day, in a voice that I have never heard in my life, punching the wall and saying he cannot take it anymore,” she said.

Hikari alleges that Kentaro Kitagawa, then head of the Osaka District Public Prosecutor’s Office, raped her following an after-work party in 2018.

Kitagawa was not arrested until June 2024, later charged and his name made public.

He told an initial hearing in October that he had “no intention of fighting the case” and apologised for “causing serious and severe harm to the victim”.

However, he changed his tune in December when his lawyer told reporters that Kitagawa “did not recognise that (Hikari) was unable to resist... and believed that she had consented”.

Kitagawa, according to one media report, changed his mind after Hikari held a news conference and alleged that the prosecution had leaked information from the investigation.