Warning to Intervening Freedom of Express

The Supreme Court decided that cutting subsidy for a filmmaker of “From Miyamoto to You” was illegal. Japan Arts Council, a special public corporation overseen by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, cut ¥10 million of subsidy for the film, because an actor who had been arrested with a suspicion of using illegal drug appeared on the film. The court found the decision of JAC had been inappropriate in light of public interest. It is regarded that the court protected freedom of expression from excessive intervention of the government. 

An independent filmmaker in Tokyo, Star Sands, received a notice of issuance of subsidy for “From Miyamoto to You” from JAC by March 2019, when the main actor of the film Pierre Taki was arrested. Taki admitted that he committed the crime and the court finally decided he was guilty in July. Soon after that, JAC cancelled issuing ¥10 million of subsidy to Star Sands.

 

The filmmaker filed a lawsuit demanding invalidation of JAC’s decision in December 2019. Tokyo District Court found that the decision of JAC was illegal and ordered JAC to withdraw the decision in June 2021. Tokyo High Court overturned the lower court’s decision, recognizing the legality of JAC’s cancellation of the subsidy. In the trials, JAC argued that if it had approved the film with a main actor of illegal drug user, the government would be regarded as tolerant to illegal drugs.

 

The Second Petty Bench of the Supreme Court settled the dispute, finding that the decision deviated the limit of JAC’s discretionary power and illegal. “If the agency broadly exercises that kind of cancellations, it affects the activities of expression to make them shrunk, and the decision is unignorable in light of Article 21 of the Constitution which guarantees freedom of expression,” said the court. The court did not find any reason that the illegal drug user would increase, because of issuing subsidy to the film.

 

It was possible that the government had been reluctant to issue the subsidy to the film. The producer of “From Miyamoto to You and former president of Star Sands, Mitsunobu Kawamura who died last year, had been known as making films critical to the government, including “i -Documentary of the Journalist” or “Tasting the Pancake for Poison.” The arrest of Taki might be a good reason to lift the support from the government.

 

 

There is a tendency in the decision of public offices to deny subsidy to the cultural activities politically unpreferable to them. JAC decided not to issue its subsidy for Aichi Triennale 2019, in which the exhibition of a statue of the comfort woman was attacked by the conservatives. JAC later issued a part of the subsidy. Former Mayor of Osaka city, Toru Hashimoto, cut the subsidy for the association of Bunraku, a traditional puppet play, in 2012, arguing that the organization was contenting with its traditional status.

 

As seen in the slump inflicted by the pandemic, the cultural activities are vulnerable to restrictions or regulations. The subsidies need to be issued to protect cultural tradition for public interest. It is inappropriate for public offices to regulate those activities in a politically or ideologically biased manner. The Supreme Court warned excessive intervention of bureaucrats in cultural activities.

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