Japan's High Court has dismissed an appeal by a former Christian newspaper editor who was found to have defamed Christian Today Japan.
Journalist Shoichi Konda had sought to overturn a district court ruling earlier this year which concluded that he had defamed Christian Today Japan (CTJ) by sharing several articles written by an anonymous blogger to his social media.
Konda is former editor-in-chief of The Christian Shimbun, a Japanese Christian weekly. In 2021, CTJ launched legal action against Konda claiming defamation over his sharing of the articles.
The articles were written on an anonymous blog which a court order later revealed was a former CTJ employee and close associate of Konda. The articles accused the CTJ CEO and staff of being heretics and engaging in corruption and malpractice.
The district court ruled in April this year that three of the articles were unfounded and that Konda had defamed CTJ by sharing them. He was ordered to pay CTJ 500,000 yen (around £2570 or $3240) in damages.
CTJ appealed this verdict, arguing that all five articles were defamatory. Konda launched a separate appeal to have the verdict overturned.
Handing down judgment on both appeals on 13 November, the High Court in Tokyo upheld the original verdict of the district court and agreed that a fourth article was defamatory. This article had claimed that CTJ CEO Takahiro Yada was a heretic who had pretended to be evangelical in order to infiltrate the church of the former chair of the Japan Evangelical Association (JEA).
This month's judgment from the High Court ruled that the claim was unfounded and defamatory, and it awarded additional damages for this article, taking the total damages to 660,000 yen (£3,390 or $4280).
CTJ editor Hokuto Ide welcomed the outcome, calling the latest verdict "significant".
"The recent Tokyo High Court ruling is not merely a legal win for CTJ; it also represents a broader call for accountability within Japan's evangelical circles," he said.
"The fact that Konda was found liable for defamation is significant, considering his long-standing influence in shaping the narrative within the evangelical community.
"We are grateful to the court for bringing a resolution to this matter and now wish to move forward in fruitful collaboration with God's church for the sake of the Gospel."
