<figure id="attachment_418931" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 4945px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-418931"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="9629672e"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/03/5b0997704ca1e804abc69946b97fdd6d.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-418931" class="wp-caption-text">Takashi Tachibana of the NHK Party, who lost both the first and second trials in the lawsuit against election watcher Chidai.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Taken to court for writing antisocial cult group</h2>
On the morning of March 20, 1995, around 8:00 AM, highly toxic nerve gas sarin was released inside subway cars in Tokyo, resulting in the deaths of 14 crew members, passengers, and station workers, and injuring approximately 6,300 others. This horrifying event, known as the Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack, remains one of the most infamous crimes in Japanese history.
Thirty years have passed, but television and other media outlets continue to produce special features and reports, emphasizing the need to prevent the memory of this terrorist act, perpetrated by the antisocial cult Aum Shinrikyo, from fading. They are once again examining Aum Shinrikyo in depth.
Amidst this, although not widely reported, the Tokyo High Court recently issued a ruling in a significant case.
On March 18, the Tokyo High Court dismissed an appeal filed by the NHK Party, led by Takashi Tachibana (57), in a defamation lawsuit against journalist Election Watcher Chidai (Tomohiro Ishiwata).
This case stemmed from the Tokyo gubernatorial election held last July, during which Chidai referred to the NHK Party on X as:
&#8220;Antisocial cult group&#8221;
&#8220;Similar to Aum, except they haven’t used sarin gas&#8221;
Claiming that these posts damaged their reputation, the NHK Party sued for defamation, seeking 1.6 million yen in damages. However, in the first trial, the Tokyo District Court ruled:
&#8220;The content of the posts does not exceed the bounds of legitimate commentary.&#8221;
The ruling stated:
&#8220;The plaintiff’s representative has explicitly expressed a willingness to disregard the law, has spoken about the possibility of terrorism and ethnic genocide, and has encouraged or provided illegal and disruptive activities as a service to the general public. Given these facts, the party can be recognized as an antisocial cult group.&#8221;
As a result, the NHK Party lost the case.
The NHK Party appealed but did not challenge the factual determinations of the first trial. Instead, they made a supplementary argument claiming:
&#8220;The expression antisocial cult group constitutes a statement of fact. Even if it were considered an opinion or commentary, a significant amount of time has passed, and most of the events in question occurred when the appellant was a different organization (a political group or party). Therefore, it exceeds the bounds of fair commentary on the current NHK Party.&#8221; 

However, in the appeal trial, the Tokyo High Court rejected all of these arguments. The court effectively reaffirmed that the NHK Party is an antisocial cult group.
&nbsp;
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="What Mr. Chidai, who won the case against the NHK Party, had to say."></div>
In a press conference held after the verdict, Chidai stated:
&#8220;Once again, I received a ruling that the expression NHK Party is an antisocial cult group does not constitute defamation. I want to urge reflection on the actions of Takashi Tachibana and others. I want him to understand why this verdict was reached.&#8221;
However, Takashi Tachibana, during the Tokyo gubernatorial election held last July, hijacked bulletin boards. In the Hyogo gubernatorial election in November, despite having no intention of winning, he ran for office in a two-horse power election to support Governor Motohiko Saito. He is also planning to run in the Kishiwada mayoral election, with the statement:
&#8220;I will carry out the final two-horse power election.&#8221;
<h2>I hope TBS doesn&#8217;t give in to Tachibana and continues to do its best</h2>
After the trial, Chidai was once again asked about his thoughts. Regarding the danger posed by Tachibana, he said:
&#8220;Tachibana is simply abusing the law and creating the illusion that he’s doing something impressive to expand support for the NHK Party. It&#8217;s very dangerous for politics to adopt such extreme ideologies. It&#8217;s like a fire—if we don&#8217;t extinguish the source when it&#8217;s small, it will become a major fire.&#8221;
On the other hand, Tachibana seemed to be angered once again by the March 15 broadcast of TBS&#8217;s &#8216;Hōdō Tokushū.&#8217; He reacted to being reported as having lost 19 lawsuits against Chidai, saying:
&#8220;That&#8217;s not true, I&#8217;ve won some as well.&#8221; 
&#8220;I haven’t been involved in that many lawsuits.&#8221;
He responded on his YouTube channel and called on his supporters to file complaints to the sponsors of &#8216;Hōdō Tokushū&#8217; and to start a boycott.
In response, Chidai said:
&#8220;Tachibana has lied several times before. Lawsuits he lost somehow turn into lawsuits he won. But even Tachibana&#8217;s supporters had to laugh at this one. The attack on the sponsors has begun, and this means that not only the program but also TBS itself must respond. This has become a very troublesome situation. But I want TBS to stand firm and not give in to Tachibana.&#8221;
Chidai is urging the old media to rise up.
Coincidentally, on March 20, NHK, which Tachibana has said he will destroy, aired a special program titled NHK Special: Aum Shinrikyo &#8211; The Madness of the November War.
At the end of the program, the family of the victims of the Tokyo subway sarin attack said:
&#8220;To entrust everything to a single person—this was the case with Aum Shinrikyo’s Asahara—feels very dangerous. I think there’s a similar trend happening in the world today. I’m concerned that the danger might repeat itself.&#8221;
Chidai wrote in his book, &#8220;What Was the NHK Party?&#8221;:
&#8220;The worst part of the NHK Party is that supporters and collaborators can accidentally get involved in troublesome lawsuits or unknowingly be complicit in illegal activities, potentially being held legally responsible.&#8221;
After the trial, Chidai&#8217;s lawyer, Yuichiro Ishimori, said:
&#8220;The NHK Party could continue to involve ordinary citizens in illegal activities. In the case of Aum Shinrikyo, religious freedom made it difficult to intervene, leading to a major tragedy. Now, we have a cult hiding behind the constitutional right to freedom of political activity. We need to reflect on what should have been done during the Aum Shinrikyo crisis. The media and police are being asked how to respond to such societal crises. In this sense, this ruling is very important.&#8221;
The key thing is to never be swayed by misinformation and to discern the truth.

 Hiroyuki Sasaki (Entertainment Journalist)

 Pasya/Afro

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