[Original] Former LDP Youth Bureau Chief Loses “Lawsuit Demanding Disclosure of Slander against Himself” to Company X in Upset Court.

The request for disclosure was once granted. ……

Takashi Fujiwara, 41, a former member of the House of Representatives, who was once in the limelight as the “young hope” of the LDP and had high hopes for the future as the 54th Director of the Liberal Democratic Party’s Youth Bureau, has lost in court.

Fujiwara, a former member of the House of Representatives from Iwate Prefecture, was first elected to the House of Representatives in December 2012. In November 2009, he was appointed Parliamentary Vice Minister of Finance in the second Kishida Cabinet.” In September 2011, at the young age of 40, he was selected as the 54th Director General of the Liberal Democratic Party’s Youth Bureau. At this point, he had already won four elections and was expected to be a future candidate for senior positions within the LDP.

However, his career was shaken by a “get-together” organized by the LDP Youth Bureau in Wakayama Prefecture in November 2011.

A female dancer wearing a revealing costume appeared at the event. Some of the participants touched the dancer’s body and tipped her with their mouths. A Sankei Shimbun scoop on March 8, 2012 uncovered this. Fujiwara, who was then the director of the Youth Bureau, came under severe criticism for not stopping the inappropriate show despite his participation in the meeting, and he resigned as director of the Youth Bureau that same month.

It turned out that Mr. Fujiwara had suffered a painful reversal in a request for disclosure of sender information filed against him in response to defamatory posts on a social networking site by X Corporation (formerly Twitter).

It all started with two posts on X about Mr. Fujiwara.

On March 15, 2012, a photo of Fujiwara, who appeared to be dozing off at the Diet, was overlaid with the words “ZZZZ” and “My hobby is watching strip dancers,” and on March 17, 2012, “Masturbator (editor’s note: a sex toy)!　Fujiwara? (Editor’s note: The actual post uses pictograms.)?　Takashi Fujiwara of the Youth Bureau? 　 (Laughs)” and other derogatory comments were posted.

In response, Fujiwara filed a request for disclosure of sender information with the Tokyo District Court, claiming that his reputation had been violated. The request was approved at first, but then Company X decided to “wait and see” and filed an appeal against the disclosure order.

On May 13 of this year, the Tokyo District Court ruled in favor of the company in its entirety. The original disclosure order was rescinded, and Fujiwara’s motion was dismissed. Fujiwara’s legal costs were also borne by Fujiwara, and the case was a reversal of the lawsuit for him.

Fujiwara: “It’s defamation! vs. Company X: “It is within the category of freedom of expression!”

In the courtroom on May 13, the two sides were in direct conflict.

Mr. Fujiwara’s side claimed that he was a “masturbator! My hobby is watching strip dancers. Fujiwara’s side strongly argued that the words in the posted article, such as “Masturbate!

On the other hand, Company X argued that the post was sarcastic and ridiculing against the backdrop of the social gathering incident, and that the context of the post and the nature of the anonymous account limited the damage to social reputation, or that it could not be accepted as true in the first place. In addition, the court argued that political criticism directed at a member of the Diet, who is a public figure, is extremely well protected as freedom of political expression and should, in principle, be recognized as legal.

The Court held that, with respect to 《Masturbate! as a matter of principle,

The court stated, “It is not understood that this is a statement of fact” (from the text of the judgment).

and that “did you go to a pervert bar too many times and lost your brain? And as for “went to a pervert bar too many times and lost his brain?

The court recognized that “it is not possible to immediately read this as meaning that the defendant went to a pervert bar too often and lost his brain (pictograms)” (from the judgment text).

(from the judgment text). However, as for the statement, ” My hobby is watching strip dancers,” [ the defendant’s] ” sexual morality is not favorable,

However, the statement, “My hobby is to watch strip dancers,” “gives the impression that he is a sexually and morally objectionable person,” and “is not a good thing,” were also considered to be inappropriate.

The court acknowledged the possibility that the statement “his hobby is to watch strip dancers” could damage Mr. Fujiwara’s social reputation as a politician. However, the court did not address the question of whether it constituted a tort as defamation,

However, the court acknowledged the possibility that the anonymous account may have damaged Mr. Fujiwara’s social reputation as a politician, but not to the extent that it constitutes a tort as libel, taking into consideration the nature of the anonymous account.

(from the text of the judgment). The “nature” here refers to the eccentricity of the posting account name and the conspiratorial content in the profile section. The court concluded that the postings of such a person could not be considered sincere and that they were unreliable because they did not indicate a position of knowledge of Fujiwara’s private life.

Mr. Fujiwara’s state of mind after losing the trial: ……

There are no or few, if any, general readers who believe that the defendant has in fact voluntarily attended strip shows with female dancers on multiple occasions, and even if the defendant’s social reputation has been damaged by Post 1 and Post 2 (the two postings in question), it is negligible and does not amount to a tort. The damage to the defendant’s social reputation caused by Posting 1 and Posting 2 (the two postings in question) is negligible and does not amount to a tort.

The most important point of the trial was that the defendant’s reputation was not damaged.

Incidentally, the Tokyo District Court did not mention in its decision the most important theme of the trial, namely, Company X’s claim that “freedom of political expression against Diet members should be fully protected. It is believed that the court avoided making a judgment on this difficult issue.

What does Mr. Fujiwara think now that he has lost the case? When we contacted Mr. Fujiwara’s office to ask about his reasons for requesting disclosure of information and his views on the court’s decision, he returned our call.

Mr. Fujiwara said, “Of course, we must respect freedom of speech, but when it crosses a line, or rather something that crosses the line too far, my legal team discusses it and deals with it on a case-by-case basis. I was a public figure, so of course I take that into account and set a higher bar than the average person. As for this ruling, it deviates from the general case law, so we are going to appeal the decision and seek a fair judgment.”

We also asked Company X’s side for their view on the ruling, but received no response.

Fujiwara may have challenged the court, judging that X’s postings would further aggravate the image tarnished by the get-together incident, but he unexpectedly lost in an upset. Following his election defeat, he lost in court as well. The end result of “Tohoho,” who was swallowed up in the stormy waters of the Internet, illustrates the weight of political scandals….