Shiori Ito refused to drop her case despite an arrest warrant being dropped with no explanation. Security camera footage and the testimony of a taxi driver suggest she was unconscious when she entered the hotel

A Japanese court ruled that a senior journalist close to Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, raped a young female colleague, although no criminal charges have ever been brought against him.

The judges awarded ¥3.3 million (£23,000) to Shiori Ito, 30, a journalist and film-maker who reported in 2015 that she had been raped by Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a prominent television reporter and biographer of Mr Abe.

Ms Ito’s refusal to abandon the case, even after prosecutors inexplicably dropped a criminal investigation, represents a rare challenge to a system in which female victims often complain that they are ignored and discriminated against. It is Japan’s most prominent manifestation of the worldwide #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and assault.

Noriyuki Yamaguchi took Ms Ito back to a hotel and had what he insisted was consensual sex with her GETTY IMAGES

The Tokyo district court also rejected a counter-suit