<figure id="attachment_393903" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-393903" style="width: 525px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="1675bb8b"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2024/10/f5d86fc8bedf751f4722e064b2788934.jpeg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-393903" class="wp-caption-text">Downtown&#8221; Hitoshi Matsumoto is taking a break from his entertainment activities. &#8230;&#8230;</figcaption></figure>
<p> The legal battle between &#8220;Downtown&#8221; Hitoshi Matsumoto and Bungei Shunju, publisher of the weekly Bunshun, has taken an unusual turn. There have even been reports of a &#8220;blitz settlement.&#8221; &#8230;&#8230;</p>
<p> The &#8220;Matsumoto vs. Bungeishun&#8221; court battle started with the news of the sexual assault at the end of last year. The initial plan was to hold the argument preparation procedure on August 14, but the date was suddenly canceled and postponed. The postponement of this procedure, which was intended to organize the points of contention before the oral arguments in court, further delayed Matsumoto&#8217;s return to court.</p>
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<p> In the meantime, some weekly newspapers reported on the settlement, but it is difficult to say where it came from.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;I don&#8217;t know where they are coming from,&#8221; said one industry insider.</span></p>
<p> said one industry insider.</p>
<h2> Bunshun submitted 20 pieces of evidence.</h2>
<p> The only thing to mention is that Atsushi Hosono, a lawyer and regular contributor to &#8220;Sunday Japon&#8221; (TBS), pointed out in a YouTube video distributed on August 19 and 27 that a settlement may be in progress in the lawsuit between Matsumoto and Bunshun. From there, a tail may have wagged and it may have become a settlement report. &#8230;&#8230;</p>
<p> Yoichi Kitamura, a lawyer for Bunshun, said of the postponement</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The court decided to postpone the case,&#8221; he said.</span></p>
<p> &#8220;The court decided to postpone the case,&#8221; he said,</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;We have submitted about 20 pieces of evidence.</span></p>
<p> He appealed, saying, &#8220;We have submitted about 20 pieces of evidence. The reason for the postponement is believed to be Matsumoto&#8217;s side, judging from his words.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> When we asked both Bunshun and Matsumoto-san about the settlement, no statement of approval came out. The postponement may simply be because Matsumoto&#8217;s side is rethinking its strategy.</span></p>
<p> To begin with, Matsumoto&#8217;s side&#8217;s complaint is reputed to be &#8220;thin,&#8221; and although it condemns the series of news reports as &#8220;sloppy coverage,&#8221; it does not specify which parts specifically fall under this category. In the proceedings up to this point, Matsumoto&#8217;s side included in its allegations posts about the victims, Ms. A and Ms. B, made by a certain outspoken distributor on a social networking service.</p>
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<p>Naturally, the Bunshun side vehemently objected, saying that there was no basis in fact. A Bunshun official also said</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;I am not sure what the intention was in mentioning the postings of the exposed distributors,&#8221; a Bunshun official</span></p>
<p> In addition, Matsumoto&#8217;s attorney, Masahiro Tashiro, is representing Matsumoto&#8217;s side.</p>
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<p> In addition, it was reported that attorney Masahiro Tashiro, representing Matsumoto&#8217;s side, had attempted to contact someone close to Ms. A and that a detective agency had been used to investigate Ms. A&#8217;s background. It is undeniable that the dispute over the truthfulness of the Bunshun article was derailed from the outset.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Among the 20 pieces of evidence submitted by the Bunshun side, there were some that were &#8216;unexpected&#8217; to Mr. Matsumoto,&#8221; said a reporter from a sports newspaper.</span></p>
<p> One of them was the memo of the interview with Mr. B. If it was adopted as evidence, it would have been &#8220;a male&#8217;s note&#8221;.</p>
<h2> If used as evidence, &#8220;male celebrities&#8221; would be exposed to fire</h2>
<p> In the first article in Bunshun, which appeared at the end of last year, it was reported that, in addition to Matsumoto, Kazutaka Ozawa of &#8220;Speed Wagon,&#8221; a broadcaster, and a &#8220;male celebrity&#8221; were present at a drinking party attended by Mr. B. According to the article, the male celebrity was a member of the &#8220;Speed Wagon&#8221; group.</p>
<p> According to the article, the male celebrity was getting along well with his favorite woman. The article mentions the male celebrity only in passing. This is because Matsumoto is the main character.</p>
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<p> However, the memo that Bunshun submitted to the court contained more personal information about the &#8220;male celebrity&#8221; than the article itself.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The names of the male celebrities were &#8220;blacked out&#8221; because they were &#8220;outside the mainstream. However, it is clear that he is a big name on the same level as Mr. Matsumoto. If this is used as evidence, it is easy to imagine that the media will make a fuss. We cannot deny the possibility that even the actual names of the people involved will be mentioned. It is understandable that Matsumoto&#8217;s side would freeze up.</span></p>
<p> Matsumoto has long felt sorry for Ozawa, pin-up comedian Tamura Kenji, and other junior comedians whose names were mentioned in his report.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The comedians whose names were mentioned in the report generally saw their work decrease dramatically. If the &#8220;male celebrities&#8221; are mentioned in the trial, there is a possibility that they will be newly implicated. The evidence from the Bunshun side should have shown how serious they are. They must have thought it necessary to rethink their strategy for the trial.&#8221;</span></p>
<p> In order to return to TV, the truth of the series of reports must be brought to light. Will Matsumoto be able to provide an &#8220;answer&#8221; that will satisfy his fans?</p>


 Yasuko Sakaguchi

 Downtown's Hitoshi Matsumoto has been taking a break from his entertainment activities due to a trial with Bunshun. Then, suddenly a "settlement report" emerged. We further explored the background and found that a certain male celebrity is ......

The existence of &#8220;a male celebrity of the same rank as Matsumoto&#8221; in the Bunshun evidence that is troubling Hitoshi Matsumoto: &#8220;Do I have to rethink my trial strategy?

The existence of “a male celebrity of the same rank as Matsumoto” in the Bunshun evidence that is troubling Hitoshi Matsumoto: “Do I have to rethink my trial strategy?

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