The Supreme Court on Thursday overruled a lower court decision that rejected a damages claim filed by the authors of a revisionist history textbook against a municipal library that had discarded a large number of other books they wrote.
The top court sent the case back to the Tokyo High Court so it can review its earlier decision on the suit, which was filed by the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, a nationalist group of academics, and the seven authors. The authors are expected to win.
They plaintiffs sought 24 million yen in damages for mental anguish caused by the library's disposal of the books in August 2001. The library is based in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture.