<figure id="attachment_428957" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-428957" style="width: 5472px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="5d64a6ca"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/06/bbb94bfd5b89cc528b05098185f3773b.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-428957" class="wp-caption-text">Ai TV&#8221; sued for sexual harassment on late-night variety show (Photo/Afro)</figcaption></figure>
<h2> Compensation for damages of 41.11 million yen</h2>
<p> On June 6, a freelance female announcer who appeared on a late-night program on the TBS-affiliated local station &#8220;Ai TV&#8221; (Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture) filed a lawsuit against the station seeking a total of 41.11 million yen in damages for repeated sexual harassment during recording.</p>
<p> According to the complaint, the woman was repeatedly subjected to sexual comments and obscene acts by a prominent male TV personality and a male Buddhist priest who appeared regularly on the program from April 2004 to March 2010, and she claims that she suffered emotional distress when the program was broadcast. The woman claims that she suffered mental anguish as a result.</p>
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<p> According to the women&#8217;s side of the story, they claimed that they did not respond to their requests for improvement from the onsite staff, and in fact, while they were being harassed during the recording, about 10 onsite staff members also laughed at them and made fun of them.</p>
<p> The woman also claims that the sexual harassment was encouraged by editing and camera work, and that when scenes involving sexual topics were shown on air, the message &#8221; <span class="strongInContent">You&#8217;re good on the floor, aren&#8217;t you?</span></p>
<p> The woman in question was suffering from mental and physical problems and asked to leave the program in November 2009. After she left the show, she was diagnosed with severe depression, including symptoms of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), and she is still unable to work.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> She was so determined to keep her job as a facilitator that she had to make the show work,&#8221; she said. &#8220;I laughed so hard that my voice broke, and I continued to act as if I was enjoying myself, but my mind and body broke down.</span></p>
<p> This was the woman&#8217;s comment read out by her lawyers and supporters at a press conference held in Tokyo on June 6.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The program in question and &quot;prominent male celebrities&quot;"></div>
<h2>Request for review of work environment and structure</h2>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> The program in question was the late-night variety show &#8220;Tsuru Tsuru. The woman was a former Ehime TV freelance announcer from Ehime, her hometown, and her co-star was TV personality Tsurutaro Kataoka, 70, a famous Buddhist monk in Ehime.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> In the program, where they talked while drinking, Tsurutaro appeared with the full-blown undertones that he once showed in the golden age of Fuji Television, including the popular variety show &#8220;Ore-tachi Hyokinzoku&#8221;. The plaintiff filed a complaint with the Broadcasting Ethics and Program Improvement Organization (BPO) prior to the lawsuit,&#8221; said a local newspaper reporter.</span></p>
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<p> As a result of the complaint, in July 2011, the BPO announced its decision that <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;no human rights infringement was found, and it cannot be said that there is even a problem in terms of broadcasting ethics</span>. The BPO then requested that &#8220;Ai TV&#8221; continue its efforts to review and improve its work environment and systems, and urged the broadcasting industry as a whole to take notice. &#8230;&#8230; The lawsuit was filed approximately two years later.</p>
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<p> In addition to the attorney, Sadaaki Iwasaki, general secretary of the Broadcasting Staff Union of the Japan Federation of Commercial Broadcasting Workers&#8217; Unions, to which the women belong, and Kari Hayashi, a professor at Tokyo University and former member of the BPO&#8217;s Broadcasting Human Rights Committee, attended the June 6 press conference mentioned above.</p>
<p> General Secretary Iwasaki explained the reason for filing the <span class="strongInContent">lawsuit: &#8220;We decided to file the lawsuit because the company refused to conduct an independent investigation because of the BPO&#8217;s decision</span>. Prof. Hayashi <span class="strongInContent">said, &#8220;The BPO has abandoned the remedy.</span> The BPO <span class="strongInContent">has</span> abandoned the remedy,&#8221; he complained. &#8221; <span class="strongInContent">For</span> the <span class="strongInContent">station to be &#8216;vindicated&#8217; is not about freedom of expression, but about protecting the broadcaster and perhaps the men&#8217;s &#8216;freedom to misbehave&#8217;</span>.</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" We asked the lawyer about the prospects of the lawsuit."></div>
<h2>At the time the program aired, the comptroller was getting stricter.</h2>
<p> Makoto Endo, an attorney at BLJ Law Offices, made the following observation.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> &#8220;The amount of compensation is so large that it is unlikely that the full amount will be awarded. However, even if the harassment was allowed in the &#8220;Showa era,&#8221; compliance was already at a stricter stage in 2004. If the judge finds that such conduct occurred, he or she will order compensation.</span></p>
<p> As to whether or not the judge will find sexual harassment, several points must be proven, he said.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> There has to be a script,&#8221; he said. Whether the co-star&#8217;s comments were scripted to some extent or whether they were unexpected ad-libs. It can be inferred that there was some discovery of the co-star by the TV station, but I wonder if there was. Did they take lightly her position as a freelance announcer? These are the points on which the judge will make a judgment.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Although the BPO did not recognize the harassment, this lawsuit is completely different and will not be affected by it,&#8221; said Endo.</span></p>
<p> (Attorney Endo) &#8220;As this is a civil lawsuit, it is inevitable that the case will be protracted. Continued litigation would be a major negative for &#8220;Ai TV.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> There are concerns that sponsors will leave the station, and if the station loses the lawsuit, the station&#8217;s image will be damaged significantly. It is unlikely that the station will suddenly admit the plaintiffs&#8217; claims, so they will probably deny them at first. After a protracted period of time, the station will probably make a settlement offer to the plaintiffs.</span></p>
<p> For other stations as well, this is a legal battle that cannot be dismissed as &#8220;a fire on the other side of the river.</p>

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 On June 6, a freelance announcer filed a lawsuit alleging that she was repeatedly sexually harassed during a late-night program broadcast by Ai TV, a local station in Ehime. What kind of sexual harassment did the woman suffer? We asked a lawyer about the lawsuit and its outcome.

The &#8220;Showa Era&#8221; is no longer valid&#8230; Why &#8220;sexual harassment lawsuits&#8221; against local TV variety shows cannot be dismissed as a fire on the other side of the river.

The “Showa Era” is no longer valid… Why “sexual harassment lawsuits” against local TV variety shows cannot be dismissed as a fire on the other side of the river.

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