Disappointing Overturned Defamation Decision

Lower court’s defamation decision overturned by judges siding with anti-cult journalist using abusive language against victim of dehumanizing faith-breaking confinement lasting more than 12 years

Tokyo, 27th August 2025 – Published as an article in the Japanese newspaper Sekai Nippo. Republished with permission. Translated from Japanese. Original article.

Overturned Decision in “Hikikomori” Lawsuit

Defamation Appeal Against Journalist Eito Suzuki

by the editorial desk of Sekai Nippo

See also the book, the amazing story of Toru Goto being locked up for 12 years and 5 months: Apartment Prison: Faith-Breaking in Modern Japan

See also Appealing Verdict Based on Mind Control Myth

On 26^th August, the Tokyo High Court delivered a ruling in the appeal trial over alleged defamation by journalist Eito Suzuki (鈴木エイト), who had made remarks referring to “hikikomori” (social recluse) [See editor’s note 1 below].

Toru Goto (後藤徹), representative of the National Association of Victims of Abduction, Confinement, and Forced De-Conversion, had sought 11 million yen in damages, claiming Suzuki’s comments were defamatory. [See editor’s note 2 below]

Presiding Judge Munehiro Sasaki (佐々木宗啓) dismissed the lower court’s decision, which had partially recognized defamation and ordered Suzuki to pay 110,000 yen in damages, and instead rejected the plaintiff’s claims in full, ruling that Suzuki’s remarks did not constitute defamation.

Following the judgment, Goto expressed strong dissatisfaction, saying:

“This is a very regrettable result. I cannot accept it.”

He also referred to the ongoing appellate proceedings regarding the government’s request to dissolve the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church), and voiced concern:

“I fear that this outcome will encourage the distorted idea that it is acceptable to lock up believers in order to make them leave the religious organization.” [See editor’s note 3 below]

Goto indicated his intention to appeal to the Supreme Court.

See also the book, the amazing story of Toru Goto being locked up for 12 years and 5 months: Apartment Prison: Faith-Breaking in Modern Japan

See also Appealing Verdict Based on Mind Control Myth

Featured image above: Toru Goto. Screenshot (2025) from video by the Family Federation.

[Editor’s note 1: The Japanese term “hikikomori” (引きこもり) refers to people who completely withdraw from social life, often isolating themselves at home for extended periods – sometimes years. It describes both the phenomenon and the individuals affected by it.

Hikikomori typically avoid school, work, and social interactions, often due to anxiety, social pressure, or mental health struggles such as depression. The term is sometimes used in a derogatory way but is also recognized as a serious social issue in Japan and other countries.]

[Editor’s note 2: According to the complaint, Suzuki criticized Goto on the news website Yaya Nikkan Cult Shimbun, where Suzuki is the main writer, as “a male believer who stayed in his flat and became a NEET [Not in Education, Employment, or Training] after recuperation, becoming just a ‘recluse’.”

On Nippon TV’s Information Live Miyaneya, he repeatedly criticized Goto, such as commenting that he was a “recluse” (引きこもり – hikikomori). Furthermore, Suzuki also defamed Toru Goto at a symposium held in July this year. When Suzuki was asked about the fact that he referred to Goto as a “recluse” (hikikomori), Suzuki replied, “I don’t care.” He also posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Goto was a puppet forced to play the “role of a victim”.]

[Editor’s note 3: Coercive faith-breaking (“deprogramming”) in Japan refers to the practice of coercively attempting to separate individuals from their religious affiliations or beliefs, typically through intervention by family members, professional faith-breakers (deprogrammers) or organizations hostile to new religious movements (NRMs). This phenomenon often targets members of such movements, e.g. relatively large faiths like the Family Federation or Jehovah’s Witnesses, but also smaller groups like Happy Science (Kōfuku no Kagaku) and other newer religious movements.

However, also Soka Gakkai, a Buddhist-based lay organization with more than 8 million Japanese members, and affiliated with Nichiren Buddhism, has occasionally been subject to faith-breaking attempts.

The practice gained attention in the latter half of the 20th century, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. Parents or concerned family members often hired faith-breakers who taught them how to abduct and forcibly detain believers. Almost all such cases involved confining the individual believer and cutting him or her off from the religious community. During the confinement, the believer was subjected to intense questioning or indoctrination designed to break his or her faith. The aim was to “rescue” the person from what the family often had been tricked by faith-breakers or lawyers to regard as harmful influence from the religious organization.

Critics of forced de-conversion argue that it violates fundamental human rights, including freedom of thought, religion, and association. Reports of psychological trauma and accusations of unlawful detention have sparked debates over its ethical and legal implications. In response, some religious groups, particularly NRMs, have lobbied for greater protections against such practices.

Japanese courts have been inconsistent in addressing cases of coercive faith-breaking. While some verdicts have condemned the practice as illegal detention, others have been more lenient, citing family concerns about “mental health” or alleged “exploitation” as mitigating factors.]

Related to defamation decision: Lawfare: State Uses Legal System in War on Faith

Also related to defamation decision: UN Report: Japan’s Lawfare Against Faith Minority

And also related to defamation decision: Protesting No Transparency in Closed-Door Trial

More, related to defamation decision: Dangerous Flaws in Dissolution Order Decried

Also related to defamation decision: “Lawyers Lying and Shaming Japan” for 50 Years

And also related to defamation decision: Japan Following the Way of China

And also related to defamation decision: Japan’s Dissolution Case Echoes China’s Playbook

More, related to defamation decision: Media/Legal Expert: Communism Behind Persecution

And more, related to defamation decision: Militant Lawyers Dictate Government Policy

More, related to defamation decision: Collusion to Rob Minority of Its Rights

And more, related to defamation decision: State and Media Creating “Today’s Non-Citizens”

Still more, related to defamation decision: Japan Copying China: State Seizure of Churches

And still more, related to defamation decision: 12 Religious Freedom NGOs Denouncing Japan

More, related to defamation decision: 4300 Abductions and Forcible Detentions

And more, related to defamation decision: Japan: Families Fear for Graves of Loved Ones

Yet more, related to defamation decision: Lawyers Manipulating, Coercing, Lying

Also related to defamation decision: Kishida Follows Anti-Family Federation Minister

Also related to defamation decision: Militant Lawyers Dictate Government Policy

Still more, related to defamation decision: Malicious One-Sided Government Source Selection

Yet more, related to defamation decision: Kishida’s Self-Defeating Populist Decisions

And still more, related to defamation decision: Japan Urged to Make U-Turn

And yet more, related to defamation decision: Dangerous Precedent to Crush Religions

And even more, related to defamation decision: Tendentious Reporting by New York Times

Still more, related to defamation decision: Japan Criticized for Glaring Rights Violations

Even more, related to defamation decision: Japan Following the Way of China

Yet more, related to defamation decision: Japanese Communists’ Final War

Still more, related to defamation decision: Political and Social Activism behind Oppression