This file photo shows a building that houses the Tokyo District and High courts in the capital’s Chiyoda Ward. (Mainichi)
TOKYO (Kyodo) — Two former Canadian female students at Yamanashi Gakuin University filed a lawsuit Friday claiming they were sexually abused, one by a professor and the other by a student, and that the university failed to respond appropriately to the incidents.
In the suit filed with the Tokyo District Court, the plaintiffs are seeking a total of about 30 million yen ($203,000) in damages from the male instructor, a non-Japanese national, and the male Japanese student, as well as the university operator.
The women, one of whom studied at the university west of Tokyo from 2015 to 2019 and the other from 2023 to 2024, said they were sexually touched by their alleged assailants and had consulted the university individually about the incidents, according to their complaints.
But the university dismissed their claims, saying in the case of alleged sexual abuse by the professor that it was a matter of “cultural difference between foreigners.”
Both plaintiffs have since returned to their home country.
Hillary Rosentreter, 28, one of the two plaintiffs, said at a press conference in Tokyo that she joined via video link that she “will not forgive” the university, saying it has done “absolutely nothing to fix the situation for the sake of its students.”
The university’s management corporation told Kyodo News that it will refrain from commenting because it has not yet to receive the complaint.
The university also faces a lawsuit filed at the same court in May by an American woman seeking damages from the university and others for alleged sexual abuse by a male non-Japanese student when she studied at the institution.
AloJapan.com