[Victory of Happy Science Confirmed] Weekly Tabloid Bunshun and Hiroshi Abandon Appeal

Regarding the defamation lawsuit (filed on March 4, 2020) in which Happy Science sought damages against weekly tabloid Bunshun – a Japanese gossip magazine - (February 28, 2019 issue) and Hiroshi Okawa for publishing articles based on falsehoods, no appeal was made by neither Bunshun nor Hiroshi by the appeal deadline, confirming the complete victory of Happy Science.

As a result, the high court's decision to dismiss the appeal by Bunshun and Hiroshi, and the order for Hiroshi and Bunshun to jointly pay 3.3 million yen to the plaintiff, upholding the district court's ruling in favor of Happy Science, has been confirmed.

Hiroshi’s false claims in this lawsuit include the following: “Hiroshi was forced to marry an actress.” “The actress was forced to quit her talent agency in order to marry Hiroshi and, as a result, she was unable to go to the shooting site.” “Hiroshi was obliged by his father to enter the University of Tokyo.” “Universities other than the Universities of Tokyo, Waseda and Keio are not universities.” “He was told, ‘Nothing is meaningful unless you are the best.’” The court has ruled out that none of these claims are true, and that there are no reasons to believe these claims are true.
Additionally, it was recognized by the court that "the testimony of appellant Hiroshi cannot be trusted because of its unnaturalness, (…) and cannot be believed right away," "Bungeishunju (the publisher of Bunshun) was appropriate to have doubts about the truthfulness of Hiroshi’s statements. They should have conducted further fact-checks with involved parties", and none of the claims of truthfulness by Bunshun and Hiroshi were acknowledged.

Happy Science strongly urges Bunshun, who published Hiroshi’s false statements without corroborative investigation, and Hiroshi, who continues to suffer defeat in numerous defamation cases against Happy Science, to sincerely accept this high court ruling and deeply repent on themselves. Additionally, regarding Hiroshi’s book published by Bungeishunju, which includes content different from the one in this article, the victory of Happy Science was also confirmed by the Supreme Court.

Public Relations Division, Happy Science Group