Photo/Illutration The plaintiff, Rena Fukazawa, speaks about the sexual harassment case after the court ruling in Tokyo on April 6. (Kyota Tanaka)

The Tokyo District Court on April 6 ordered a former Waseda University professor and the university to pay a former graduate student a total of 605,000 yen ($4,580) in damages for sexual harassment and another professor’s improper handling of her complaint. 

Rena Fukazawa, a poet and former Waseda University graduate student, had filed a lawsuit against Naomi Watanabe, a literary critic and a former Waseda professor, and the university. She had sought damages of 6.6 million yen. 

Fukazawa argued in the case that Watanabe sexually harassed her and that another professor whom she consulted handled her complaint inappropriately.

The court ruled that some remarks made to the plaintiff violated the law, although it said there was no evidence that Watanabe crossed a line in allegations that he touched Fukazawa.

In a news conference after the ruling, Fukazawa criticized the failure of the court to acknowledge the physical contact by Watanabe as being “too anachronistic.”

“It’s true that I won the case but (the ruling) includes descriptions that sound like students and teaching staff are on an equal footing,” she said. “I have mixed feelings.”

On the university’s response to her complaint, Fukazawa said, “Even if I suffered harassment, if (the university side) had said to me, ‘You must have had a hard time’ frequently enough, or I had received appropriate support, my suffering wouldn’t have been as significant.”

Waseda University issued a statement saying, “We feel extremely regretful and sincerely apologize.” An agent of Watanabe declined to comment.

Fukazawa entered Waseda University’s Graduate School in 2016.

She complained that she suffered sexual harassment and power harassment repeatedly at the hands of Watanabe, who instructed her at the school.

The ruling acknowledged that when Fukazawa took off her outer garment soaked by rain during a lecture, Watanabe told her, “I was wondering what I would do if you were naked under it.”

The court also said that the comment Watanabe made to her during a meal, which was “I will make you my woman after you graduate,” “crossed a socially acceptable line.”

Fukazawa had also complained that a male professor who led professors in the university’s department and whom Fukazawa consulted about Watanabe’s harassment told her, “Sexual harassment is something more serious,” and “You (Fukazawa) let your guard down.”

The court noted the organizational responsibility of the university by saying that such remarks “breached the university’s teaching staff’s duty of care to be considerate and to not harm the educational environment.”

Fukazawa also complained that Watanabe repeatedly touched her body and scolded her on the phone.

However, the ruling dismissed such allegations saying, “There is no evidence to recognize that such behavior crossed a (socially acceptable) line.”

Fukazawa left the graduate school in March 2018 and filed a complaint about the harassment with Waseda University.

The university investigated the case and fired Watanabe as a result.

However, Fukazawa argued in the trial that the university didn’t conduct a proper investigation and that it failed in its duty as a result.

The university counterargued saying that it doesn’t owe a duty of care to people who have left the educational institution.

The ruling accepted that the university had a duty to respond to Fukazawa’s complaint saying, “(The university) is obliged to conduct an investigation appropriately after it receives a report of harassment, starts an investigation and recognizes it as a harassment case.”

However, the court said that there was nothing wrong with how the university responded to Fukazawa’s complaint.

Related News