The nation's top court has dismissed a man's demand that internet search results of his arrest in a child prostitution case be removed under the so-called right to be forgotten.
The decision by the Supreme Court was the first to outline the rigorous requirements needed for approval of such a request.
"The deletion (of references to the charge) can be allowed only when the value of privacy protection significantly outweighs that of information disclosure," said Justice Kiyoko Okabe, of the Supreme Court's Third Petty Bench.