Photo/Illutration A plaintiff shows copies of documents distributed at her workplace in May in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. (Issei Yamamoto)

SAKAI, Osaka Prefecture--The Osaka District Court’s Sakai Branch is ordering a company that distributed hate-filled discriminatory documents at its workplace to pay compensation to its resident Korean employee.

Presiding Judge Kenji Nakagaito concluded that Fuji Corp., a major real-estate corporation in Kishiwada, Osaka Prefecture, “took actions that went outside of social tolerance,” and ordered the company and its chairperson on July 2 to pay about 1.1 million yen ($10,230) to an employee.

The employee, a third-generation, ethnic-Korean in her 50s, had sued the major realtor, which is listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

According to the court’s decision, the company handed out documents, such as copies of magazine and online articles to its employees during a period from February 2013 to September 2015.

In the articles, Chinese, South Korean and North Korean people were called derogatory terms, such as “liars” and “wild animals.”

The court concluded these documents were not written with the plaintiff in mind and the act of distributing them was not in itself discrimination against her.

However, the court said workers should not have to worry about whether they will face discrimination in their workplace, and their peace of mind should be protected.

The company’s act of distributing a large number of documents that denigrated certain groups of people repeatedly made the plaintiff deeply concerned, the decision said.

The act made her worry she might be discriminated against by the company and it disturbed her peace of mind, and was therefore illegal, the court ruled.

The plaintiff had also claimed the company mobilized employees while at work to attend an exhibit of school textbooks. Then they were asked to write positive comments in a survey asking about a junior high school textbook.

One of the editors of the textbook used to work for a group known for a movement to rewrite history books, particularly to sanitize wartime history about Japan’s colonization of Asia.

The judge said that was “a political activity unrelated to work,” and it was “illegal” because it “violated the plaintiff’s freedom of thought and beliefs.”

“I think the court understood the pain in my heart,” the plaintiff said, in tears at a news conference after the ruling.

She was born and raised in Japan. She stopped using her Japanese name when she reached the upper grades of elementary school.

She chose not to quit the company and instead took the matter to court because she wants Japan to become a place where people like her can say, “I am a resident Korean” with their head held high.

“I don’t want to leave a future for the next generation where people cave in to hate and prejudice and be silenced,” she said.

Her lawyers praised the court for recognizing the need for workers’ rights to be protected from discrimination in the workplace. 

Fuji Corp. issued a statement criticizing the ruling.

“It is utterly unacceptable from the viewpoint of a private company’s discretion on employee education and the owner’s freedom of speech,” it said. 

(This article was written by Takashi Endo and Issei Yamamoto.)