This past month, two older men have learned the hard way that saying racist things online is just as awful as saying them in public.

Teenager Neo Nakane took a blogger who had posted anti-Korean sentiments on a blog to court and eventually won ¥1.3 million in damages. His lawyer said the verdict was 'revolutionary.' | KYODO
Teenager Neo Nakane took a blogger who had posted anti-Korean sentiments on a blog to court and eventually won ¥1.3 million in damages. His lawyer said the verdict was 'revolutionary.' | KYODO

On May 12, a 68-year-old man in Oita Prefecture was ordered by the Tokyo High Court to pay ¥1.3 million in damages to 18-year-old Neo Nakane of Kanagawa Prefecture for racist remarks the Oita man made on his blog three years ago. Nakane, who was in junior high school at the time, pressed charges against the man for remarks made about him and his mother, who is ethnic Korean.