Overview
- The Tokyo District Court found FRIDAY’s articles about Watanabe Sense defamatory and ordered Kodansha and the magazine’s editor to pay 2.2 million yen.
- The ruling by Judge Koyo Kasai said the pieces lowered Watanabe’s social evaluation by portraying him as arranging women as potential sexual partners for Matsumoto Hitoshi.
- The court determined the stories relied on a single interviewee without objective evidence such as message records and were reposted online after Watanabe’s rebuttal without seeking his comment.
- Watanabe, who sought 11 million yen, was awarded a smaller sum, with the court acknowledging significant damage to his entertainment activities.
- Kodansha argued the reporting served the public interest and was based on interviews it believed credible, but the court rejected that defense; no appeal was reported at the time of the verdict.