The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court decision to halt the publication of a novella, marking the first time in postwar Japan that the top court has endorsed such an action in a libel suit.
The court also ordered award-winning novelist Miri Yuu and her publisher, Shinchosha Co., to pay 1.3 million yen in damages to a Korean resident of Japan who was the inspiration for one of the novella's characters.
Presiding Judge Toyozo Ueda said: "The plaintiff has had her pride and privacy violated by the novella's publication. Halting publication does not violate Section 1 of Article 21 of the Constitution, according to precedents."