Nov. 2004 – No. 2
TOKYO, Japan: Masatomo Yamazaki formally apologized to a former city council member in Tokyo District Court after being sued for defamation and infringement of privacy.
The former city councilor sued Yamazaki after he wrote in a 2001 tome that the man was connected to the Japanese mafia.
The former city councilor was high school classmates with a man involved with the mafia. He appeared as a character witness for the former classmate, in hopes that the man could be rehabilitated.
Yamazaki promised that he would never write a similar defamatory article. “I apologize to the plaintiff for having caused him trouble,” he said in court.
His statement will be kept as official document in the case.