Tokyo, Oct. 29 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo District Court on Thursday ordered a city assembly member from Kofu in Yamanashi Prefecture, west of Tokyo, to pay 1.1 million yen in damages to Taiwan-born author Li Kotomi over a privacy violation related to the disclosure that she was transgender. Presiding Judge Yohei Motomura found that the assembly member, Hiromi Muramatsu, violated the author’s privacy. Li, winner of Japan’s prestigious Akutagawa Prize who goes by the pen name, had sought 5.5 million yen in damages and other compensation. According to the complaint, Muramatsu posted comments about Li on social media in May 2024, including that she had a male body and had not undergone surgery. The assembly member also posted a photograph of Li taken when she was a minor, before her gender transition, as well as her legal name. The complaint also said the two had never met. Li’s side argued that the posts were illegal because they violated her privacy and portrait rights. The defense responded that information identifying Li as transgender had already been spread online, and that the posts therefore did not constitute an invasion of privacy. Li won the Akutagawa Prize in 2021 for her novel “The Island Where Red Spider Lilies Bloom.” She publicly announced that she was transgender in November 2024, adding that she had faced online harassment from numerous people about her gender. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
