While interning at Thomson Reuters in 2015, Itō was at an izakaya (casual bar) in Ebisu, Shibuya with Noriyuki Yamaguchi, a prominent television journalist and acquaintance of the Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.

[6] Itō was told she did not act like a victim and had to be interviewed by several officers, including one who made her re-enact the rape with a dummy while he took pictures.

When she spoke about the experience at a press conference, she made national news and immediately started receiving backlash, hate mail, and threats.

[10] Itaru Nakamura, the acting chief of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Investigative Division at the time and a close confidant of both Prime Minister Abe and Yamaguchi, admitted in the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho to having halted the probe and arrest warrant.

[11] Itō subsequently filed a complaint with the Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution, but a September 2017 ruling did not charge Yamaguchi since "there was no common law basis to overturn.

[10][12] Yamaguchi denied the charges and filed a countersuit, seeking ¥130 million (US$1,180,000) in compensation, claiming the incident was consensual and the ensuing accusations had damaged his reputation,[10] although that suit was later turned down due to inconsistencies in his testimony.

The court also ordered Itō to pay ¥550,000 to Yamaguchi for damages for defaming him by claiming in her book accusing him of giving her a date rape drug with no evidence.

[17] In August 2020, Itō sued Japanese lower house member Mio Sugita of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

[18] The lawsuit described some 25 defamatory tweets against Itō that Sugita interacted with, which included "botched attempt at obtaining work/job through sexual advances",[a] "honey trap", and "publicity stunt".

[20] The lawsuit was originally dismissed by the Tokyo District Court, which excused the lawmaker's actions by opining that a "like" was not necessarily a statement of support, as users may merely employ the tool as a sort of "bookmark".

[23] Moreover, the consequential wide dissemination of the negative post constituted defamatory conduct beyond the limit, noting that Ms. Sugita, a National Diet member with over 100,000 followers, has influence beyond any ordinary citizen.