Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on November 2013

In April, 2008 Metropolis reported on the courageous battle being fought by the victim of a rape near a US military base in Kangawa. When that article was published, she had already been seeking justice for nearly six year after the Japanese police failed to prosecute her attacker, a US Navy serviceman. At that time, she was going only by the name “Jane” and wearing sunglasses during her public speeches to protect her identity.

This week, she gave a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan under her full name Catherine Jane Fisher, explaining that she no long feels scared or the need to hide her identity. “What she has been doing are things that the Japanese government should be doing,” said Jun Chisaka, Director of the Japan Peace Committee. “That is why she had to sacrifice her family and finances in the battle.”

The Australian native and long-time resident of Japan held the conference to announce a legal breakthrough in her case. Fisher doggedly pursued her attacker through the US legal system after he left Japan while rape charges against him were still pending. Now the Wisconsin County Circuit Court has endorsed a Japanese civil court finding. Her lawyers say it is the first time a US court has recognized a foreign judgement for rape.

Keiko Itokazu, a Member of the House of Councillors from Okinawa said “there are many cases in which the victim cannot prosecute because the perpetrator leaves the country, so this really a victory not only for Jane but for all victims.” However, the legal breakthrough was bittersweet. Fisher was awarded only one US dollar by the court, an amount she held up in the press conference.