Photo/Illutration The building housing the Osaka District Court (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

OSAKA--The Osaka District Court on Aug. 30 dismissed a lawsuit and a countersuit filed after the suicide of Hana Kimura, a professional wrestler who starred in a reality TV show.

Kimura’s mother sued a number of social media users, saying their bullying and defamatory posts led to her daughter’s suicide in May 2020 at the age of 22.

Kimura was a cast member of the popular reality show “Terrace House.” She took her own life after becoming subject to intense harassment and abuse on social media by people who watched the show.

Some of those sued have been fined over their posts or ordered to pay compensation.

But one of social media users,  a woman in Osaka Prefecture, countersued, saying the mother’s “evidence” against her was fabricated.

The mother said a Twitter post by the woman made shortly after Kimura’s death included such phrases as: “Is she breathing? Well, it’s too late, isn’t it,” along with symbols indicating laughter.

The mother sought around 3 million yen ($27,000) in compensation from the woman’s family. The mother obtained an image of the deleted tweet and filed a lawsuit demanding disclosure of the sender’s information.

But the Osaka woman argued that she never posted the tweet. She also said the image of the tweet was fabricated by a third party because there were no indications of the date and time when it was supposedly posted on Twitter, now X.

Kimura’s mother expressed a willingness to settle the case, saying she would bear the legal fees incurred by the woman.

But negotiations broke down. And the Osaka woman sued Kimura’s mother and her attorney, seeking 8.8 million yen in compensation.

She argued that it was easy to determine that the image was fake.

The fabrication of the tweet was not in dispute. The focus was on whether Kimura’s mother should be held liable for compensation over the misinformation about the Osaka woman.

In the end, the court dismissed both lawsuits.

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