A popular South Korean DJ made headlines last week when she went public with accusations of sexual assault by fans at an Osaka music festival. Now, the festival organizers are vowing to pursue anyone who was complicit in the alleged crime with criminal and civil charges.
Content Warning: This article describes sexual assault.
DJ SODA goes public
Hwang So-Hee, better known by her stage name of DJ Soda, is a 35-year-old DJ who’s been active on the scene for a decade. The artist made a name for herself working the musical festival touring circuit in Asia, starting with the Korea World DJ Festival in 2015.
So it’s no surprise that Soda was one of the featured guests at Osaka’s Music Circus on August 14th. What’s shocking is what happened during the concert.
In a post to her X account written in Japanese, DJ Soda wrote: “My performance at Japan’s Osaka Music Circus Festival is done, but something gut-wrenching happened there. Near the end of my set, I approached my fans – as I always do so I can have fun with my fans up close – when I fell victim to sexual harassment, with several people touching my breasts.”
Soda later said that both men and women had grabbed her. In a separate post, she wrote, “In my 10 years of performing, this is the first time in my life this has happened at a public performance. I can’t believe it, I’m baffled such a thing could happen. It’s gonna make it hard to step down from the stage & approach my fans again.”
The victim blaming begins
Soda’s post made headlines in Japan. That isn’t a surprise, as sexual assault – in particular, groping – remains a hot-button issue here.
Groping is an underreported crime in Japan; one survey estimated that 80% of assaults may go unreported. To counter this, the Japanese government recently suggested to schools around the country that they not dock attendance for students who take time off to report molestation crimes. Private companies and government agencies have even developed apps that make it easier to track molestation attacks or raise a cry for help.
Nonconsensual photography is also a problem, with upskirt cases increasing in recent years. Some men are even attending high school sporting events to take nonconsensual pictures of underage female athletes. The problem is so bad that Saitama Prefecture recently issued a set of guidelines aimed at cracking down on the practice.
For the most part, people in Japan responded to DJ Soda’s sexual assault with disgust and revulsion. For a time, the hashtag 痴漢大国 (chikan taikoku; Nation of Gropers) trended on X.
But, social media being awful, some users argued the problem was…DJ Soda. Particularly, the “provocative” way that she dressed.
Perhaps the most blatant of these charges came from Morita Hiroyuki, the director of the 2002 Studio Ghibli movie The Cat Returns. He said in a post on X Soda’s charges were part of a “badger game” (つつもたせ; tsutsumotase) – a scam in which the scammers (usually a man and a woman) put a victim in a compromising position to take advantage of them. He accused Osaka Music Circus of “collaborating” with the artist.
Morita deleted his post. However, he has yet to comment on or apologize for it.
DJ Soda responded to this victim blaming on X: “I don’t wear revealing clothes because I want to be touched. I know what makes me look beautiful. I dress how I wanna dress to meet that objective and because it makes me feel confident.”
Music fest’s vow
Fortunately, the event appears to take the assault against DJ Soda seriously. In a statement posted to the official Osaka Music Circus Web site, the event’s company, TryHard Japan Corporation, says it will do what it can to punish the perpetrators.
“These were acts of sexual violence – sex crimes – and absolutely cannot be tolerated,” the statement reads. “We will support the victim, DJ Soda, as much as possible by identifying the criminals who committed these heinous crimes and pursuing both private and criminal legal action against them, such as seeking damages and lodging criminal complaints.”
The statement note that the incident was filmed from multiple angles and that identifying the assailants wouldn’t be difficult. “The people who committed these crimes should turn themselves in to the police or contact our company.”
The company said in conclusion that it is “pursuing all preventative measures” to ensure an incident like this never happens again.
What to read next
Japan to Schools: Don’t Dock Attendance for Groping Victims
Sources
DJ Soda. Wikipedia
韓国女性DJが大阪で痴漢被害…だがネットで「露出衣装こそ問題」の“筋違い”批判も. Korea Wave
韓国DJ被害で刑事告発へ 主催者意向、来週にも. Kyodo News
選手盗撮防止 県が手引作成. Yomiuri Shinbun
