[Complete Victory for Happy Science in High Court] Defamation Lawsuit by Weekly Bunshun and Hiroshi (District Court Ruling Upheld)

Regarding the defamation lawsuit filed by Happy Science on March 4, 2020, seeking damages against Bungeishunju Ltd. and Hiroshi for publishing a false article in Weekly Bunshun (February 28, 2019 issue) based on Hiroshi's falsehoods, the Tokyo High Court on January 31, 2024, dismissed the appeal by Bungeishunju Ltd. and Hiroshi. As a result, the district court ruling ordering Hiroshi and others to jointly pay 3.3 million yen to the plaintiff, Happy Science, was upheld. None of the claims of truthfulness by Bungeishunju Ltd. and Hiroshi were recognized.

In this ruling, the district court's judgment was upheld that the articles based on Hiroshi's falsehoods, such as "forced marriage (with an actress)", "quitting the agency for marriage and not going to filming locations", "mandatory admission to the University of Tokyo Faculty of Law", "universities other than the University of Tokyo, Waseda, and Keio are not universities", and "there is no meaning unless you are number one in everything", all lowered the social evaluation of Happy Science, were not true, and there was no reasonable ground to believe them to be true.

Furthermore, it was recognized that "the testimony of appellant Okawa cannot be immediately trusted due to its unnaturalness", "it was appropriate to have doubts about the truthfulness of appellant Okawa's statements by appellant Bungeishunju", and "further corroborative investigation should have been conducted (with related parties, etc.)".

We strongly urge Bungeishunju Ltd., which published Hiroshi's false statements without corroborative investigation, and Hiroshi, who continues to lose defamation lawsuits against our group, to sincerely accept this high court ruling and deeply repent. Additionally, regarding the defamation lawsuit due to falsehoods in Hiroshi's book published by Bungeishunju, which overlaps with this article, Happy Science's victory has been confirmed by the Supreme Court.

Happy Science Group Public Relations Division