Kyoto, Oct. 15 (Jiji Press)–The mother of a man who died in Japan last year filed a damages lawsuit against a YouTuber on Thursday, claiming that the defendant’s video led to her son’s suicide. Saeko Nakano, 73, filed the lawsuit with Kyoto District Court, demanding a total of about 230 million yen in damages from the 28-year-old YouTuber, Shinjuku 109 KENZO, whose real name is Miki Ikeda, and two others. According to the complaint, Nakano’s son, Takuma, who died at the age of 36, was involved in a dispute with the other two defendants, Makoto Akagi, 46, and Yuki Yasuda, 35, over the sale of a company he had managed. At Akagi’s request, Ikeda uploaded a video in June last year arguing that Nakano’s son was “a massive merger and acquisition scammer.” He is believed to have killed himself the following month. Ikeda’s YouTube channel has 1.03 million subscribers and more than 700 videos purportedly aimed at eradicating scams. On Wednesday, Kyoto prefectural police arrested Ikeda on suspicion of defaming Nakano’s son, as well as Akagi and Yasuda for alleged attempted extortion. At a press conference in the city of Kyoto on Thursday, Nakano said: “I was truly frustrated at how people judged my son’s personality based solely on the video and subjected him to defamation. I want the defendants to pay for their crimes.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
