[Complete Victory for Happy Science] Regarding the Defamation Lawsuit Decision on the Book Published by Gentosha and Authored by Hiroshi

Happy Science filed a defamation lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court on October 4, 2023, seeking damages against Gentosha Inc. (President and CEO Toru Kenjo) and Hiroshi Okawa due to the damage to its reputation caused by Hiroshi's book (published by Gentosha) and his statements on YouTube regarding the book. On August 9, 2024, the Tokyo District Court ruled in favor of Happy Science, ordering Gentosha Inc. and Hiroshi to pay a total of 1.65 million yen in damages to Happy Science (1.1 million yen jointly by Gentosha and Hiroshi, and 550,000 yen by Hiroshi alone) and to delete the relevant YouTube video.

In this decision, it was determined that multiple statements made by Hiroshi in the book, which Happy Science had sued over, were not true, nor was there any reasonable basis to believe them to be true, and the defamation of Happy Science by Hiroshi's falsehoods was recognized.

Regarding Hiroshi's YouTube statement that Happy Science exerted pressure on the judge, making them feel their life was in danger, Hiroshi could not even claim it to be true during the trial, and the deletion of the false YouTube video was ordered.

Additionally, prior to the publication of the book, Happy Science had warned Gentosha Inc. that 1) multiple court cases with Happy Science had repeatedly revealed that many of Hiroshi's statements contained falsehoods, and 2) appropriate background research and content verification by Gentosha were necessary before publishing the book.
Despite this, Gentosha Inc. ignored these warnings and published the book without conducting any background research on Happy Science, which was an act that went against publisher ethics. The result was thus the current court decision against Gentosha and Hiroshi

We strongly urge Gentosha Inc. and Hiroshi to sincerely accept their defeat, deeply reflect on themselves, and hereafter stop blaspheming faith, making false statements, or slandering the sacred.

Public Relations Division, Happy Science Group