Takashi Tachibana of the NHK Party, whose words and actions are gaining more attention following the Hyogo Prefecture gubernatorial election. The actions and statements of Takashi Tachibana of the “NHK Party to Protect the People from NHK” are attracting increasing attention. On November 29, he made public the contents of the PC of a Hyogo Prefecture government employee who had committed suicide. Then, on December 2, when it was revealed that lawyer Nobuhiro Gohara had filed a criminal complaint against former Hyogo Governor Motohiko Saito for violating the Public Offices Election Act, Tachibana declared on his official X account, “I believe this is a completely false accusation by lawyer Gohara.” This has led to a battle of accusations. However, just before this, an important ruling was made regarding Tachibana’s “NHK Party.” In a lawsuit where the NHK Party had sued journalist Tomohiro Ishiwatari, known as “Election Watcher Chidai,” for defamation, the Tokyo District Court dismissed the plaintiff’s claims on November 27. The case was dismissed without contesting the facts. The origin of the matter was in July of this year, during the Tokyo gubernatorial election, when Ishiwatari made statements on social media and video sites about the NHK Party’s use of election boards. “An antisocial cult group” “Something like Aum, but without the sarin gas” He made such statements. The plaintiff, NHK Party, The NHK Party argued that these statements implied the party was a dangerous religious group that kills a large number of people who betrayed the party and their families, which damaged their social reputation. They argued this and filed a lawsuit seeking 1.6 million yen in damages.  In response, Ishiwatari’s side presented 18 facts as the basis for the antisocial cult group claim. Since the NHK Party did not contest most of these facts, it was considered a judicial confession (under Civil Procedure Law Article 179), leading to the dismissal of the lawsuit. The presiding judge stated that the expressions such as antisocial cult group should be understood as referring to a group or organization that engages in illegal and blind actions. It is understood that the statement describes the plaintiff as a group or organization that engages in illegal and blindly repeated actions without hesitation. Among other things, It was concluded that the statements could not be recognized as pointing to specific facts about the plaintiff, but rather as expressing opinions or commentary. The judge stated. Takashi Tachibana of the NHK Party immediately declared his intention to appeal, but since a judicial confession has been established, the possibility of the ruling being overturned in the high court is almost zero. After the verdict, Ishiwatari held a press conference and said, “The court has indicated that there is no problem with calling the NHK Party an antisocial cult group.” He said proudly.