in some Western countries, and laws and the some courts in Europe and the United States protect people who are sued in this way. Legal experts say Japan has no similar safeguards.

The article at the center of the case, "The Lies Behind the Hits/Does Johnny's Get Super-VIP treatment?!/The Honeymoon Between the Talent Agency and Oricon," run on a full page under the byline "Editorial Department," relies heavily on two long quotes attributed to Ugaya, with only a brief introduction and conclusion.

Ugaya claims he was quoted inaccurately and "very important" parts of his comments were omitted.

He said that after the interview, the magazine sent him a draft of his comments for review. He claimed he corrected errors and filled in omissions in the text, but the editor who interviewed him refused to make the changes because there wasn't enough time and no more space on the page.