Japan Press Weekly

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2018 May 16 - 22 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

High court recognizes city’s refusal to publish woman’s poem on Article 9 as illegal

The Tokyo High Court on May 18 issued a ruling upholding a lower court decision that it was illegal for the Saitama City government to have refused to carry a woman’s “haiku” poem on Article 9 of the Constitution in the newsletter of a city-run community center.

The woman is a member of a community group which regularly holds meetings at the Mitsuhashi community center in the city to enjoy composing “haiku” poems. The 77-year-old woman in 2015 filed a lawsuit against the city government with the Saitama District Court, claiming that the city had illegally declined to publish in the center’s newsletter her haiku on a demonstration march calling for the protection of Article 9.

The district court in October 2017 ruled that the city’s rejection of the poem is illegal.

The high court ruling upheld the lower court judgement. The latest ruling states that members of the poetry group have been allowed to publish their works in the newsletters. It recognizes the city’s decision to throw out the plaintiff’s poem as unjust and illegal.

At a press conference after the ruling, the plaintiff said that she will keep urging the city to publish her haiku about Article 9 in the newsletter.

Past related articles:
> Court: City illegally excluded ‘haiku’ on Article 9 from its newsletter [October 14, 2017]
> City sued for arbitrary refusal to publish ‘haiku’ on Article 9 [June 26, 2015]