The Tokyo District Court's temporary injunction banning the sale of the weekly Shukan Bunshun over an article about the private life of a Diet lawmaker's daughter triggered debate over the issue of privacy vs. freedom of expression.
Privacy issues are a hot potato amid soaring compensation payouts awarded by courts in privacy-related damages lawsuits and the enactment last year of legislation to protect personal information, which critics said would regulate reporting on scandals.
Lawyer Yoichi Kitamura, an expert on the issue who represents Shukan Bunshun's publisher, Bungeishunju Ltd., in the injunction issue, told The Japan Times on Friday that the rare move by the court threatened freedom of expression and the public's right to know.