House of Councilors member Naoki Tanaka and his support group have filed suit against Fuji Television Network Inc., demanding an apology and 20 million yen in compensation for psychological damage they claimed they suffered as a result of video shots taken through a hidden camera during his election campaign.
According to the suit filed with the Nagaoka branch of the Niigata District Court, the plaintiffs allege that Fuji TV set up a video recorder in a house across from Tanaka's campaign headquarters in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, and had continuously recorded footage of the headquarters' entrance since mid-June.
Tanaka, an Upper House member of the Liberal Democratic Party and husband of former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, said the incident has caused him "psychological damage" and also that his support group's election campaign activities were affected.
Tanaka is running in Sunday's Upper House election for a seat in the Niigata electoral district.
Fuji TV spokesman Ryunosuke Endo said the network will state its position in court.
Poster rebel held
OSAKA (Kyodo) A 25-year-old man in Osaka Prefecture was arrested early Friday for tearing a poster of a candidate in Sunday's House of Councilors election off a billboard and throwing it away, local police said.
Keizo Nakata was arrested on the spot for violating the Public Offices Election Law.
According to investigators, the incident took place on a street in the city of Sakai around 12:40 a.m.
Nakata said he was drunk at the time, they added.
Police had been monitoring the billboard, which features posters of candidates running in the Osaka Prefectural constituency, as it had been defaced twice last month.