"控訴審判決に対する弊社のコメントを掲載させて頂きます。" 18 November 2021

[Japanese-to-English translation: Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

Today, the Osaka High Court ruled against Fuji Corporation and our chairperson on compensation for damages caused by their alleged harassment through the distribution of company documents to our employees and ordered to stop part of such distribution.

The ruling is not acceptable to us because it applies not only to our internal documents but to newspapers, magazines, and books, which we believe is excessive restriction.[...] The lower court confirmed that there had been no discriminatory harassment by our company targeting the individual plaintiff through document distribution. Nevertheless, the high court ordered us to stop the distribution of documents that include controversial or other insulting expressions. This would require us to screen each expression irrespective of context, which will place excessive restraint on our communication and severely intimidate freedom of expression in Japan.

Today’s ruling is utterly unacceptable for Fuji Corporation. We will file a final appeal and a petition for acceptance of a final appeal, and at the Supreme Court, we will claim the legitimacy of our document distribution again based on the constitutional guarantees on freedom of expression.

[...]