On December 7, Happy Science Academy filed a defamation lawsuit against Shinchosha and its president, Mr. Takashi Sato.

Today, December 7 (Friday), the school corporation Happy Science Academy of the Happy Science Group filed a 100 million yen defamation lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court against Shinchosha Co., Ltd., which publishes "Shukan Shincho," its president Mr. Takashi Sato, and the freelance writer Mr. Yoshio Fujikura who wrote the article.

This defamation lawsuit is in response to the article "The Crimes of Happy Science Academy" in the November 22, 2012 issue of "Shukan Shincho." Specifically, some of the issues include the headline falsely claiming that "both the Ministry of Education and the prefecture have given up! Nonsense classes that indoctrinate children with lies!" as if such classes were being conducted and both the Ministry of Education and the prefecture were helpless. Additionally, in subheadings and the main text, expressions like "solitary confinement" and "punishment," which do not actually exist, were repeatedly quoted, describing the academy as a "fearful school" where solitary confinement punishment is rampant, severely damaging the reputation of Happy Science Academy. Furthermore, the article's title and headlines were published in newspaper advertisements, including in the five major newspapers, and in train advertisements, spreading toxic information to millions of people.

In response, on our group's official website, we published "The Worst Fabrication by Shukan Shincho ~Protesting the Article 'The Crimes of Happy Science Academy' in Shukan Shincho~ open_in_new" on November 15, raising several issues with the article and protesting. Despite visiting "Shinchosha" to protest strongly and demand a prompt apology and correction from the "Shukan Shincho" editorial department and Mr. Fujikura, the response from "Shukan Shincho" was that they could not comply with the "apology and correction." Therefore, after confirming the voices of the students and parents of Happy Science Academy, we proceeded to file a 100 million yen defamation lawsuit to restore the honor of Happy Science Academy.

In defamation lawsuits involving weekly magazines, it is common to name the publisher, editor-in-chief, desk in charge, and reporter as defendants. However, this time, we have also included Mr. Takashi Sato, the president of "Shinchosha," as a defendant. The reason is that we judged it necessary to question the management responsibility of the representative director of "Shinchosha," which has lost 75 defamation lawsuits in nine years.

Against "Shukan Shincho" and Mr. Fujikura, we will thoroughly reveal justice and truth in court. Additionally, we encourage many people to read the scripture "No Longer Human: The Reckless Run to Ruin of Shinchosha President Takashi Sato open_in_new" (published by Happy Science Publishing) to expose the reality of malicious journalism to the world and advance the cause of justice.

Director of Public Relations, Happy Science Group, Nobuyuki Watanabe