On Tuesday, an appeal trial for the Ryoko Hirosue defamation case was held in the Tokyo High Court. Back in June, a lower court had ruled against publisher Shogakukan, agreeing with Hirosue's claim that her reputation had been damaged by a false article published in the magazine Josei Seven. The article had accused her of having an affair, accompanied by purported photos of her and another man. While Hirosue sought 23 million yen in damages at the time, she was only awarded 1.2 million.

In the appeal trial, the Tokyo High Court again ruled in Hirosue's favor, but increased Shogakukan's fine to 2.3 million yen.