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Mother of 'Terrace House' star who killed herself to press charges against cyberbullies

34 Comments

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Good. I hope she identifies them, sues them, and makes an example of how their actions had such tragic consequences.

14 ( +24 / -10 )

I miss the good ole days when bullying was more limited. With cyberbullying, the viciousness and nastiness heaped upon its unfortunate victims seems to know no bounds.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

wait... last month she tried to sue the tv production... right? Didn't work? That girl was an adult and not a kid anymore.

She was selffish to take her life. period.

-12 ( +6 / -18 )

I miss the good ole days when bullying was more limited. With cyberbullying, the viciousness and nastiness heaped upon its unfortunate victims seems to know no bounds.

Sometimes, an old-fashioned fist fight is the best way to resolve conflict.

8 ( +11 / -3 )

I cannot see how one could be held liable for a suicide. Hana Kimura, an adult, woefully took her own life. For others to be held liable it would be unconscionable and would set a dangerous legal precedent. Who really knows why Hana took her own life? Perhaps, she was suffering from some deep-seated issues and the bullying brought them out . In my humble opinion I fail to see how mere cyberbullying could have lead to her suicide. It is not as though the naysayers were personally known to her or had anything to gain from bullying her. I fail to see how one could be held liable. If for example, she was being bullied on Twitter she could have chosen to simply not visit that website. We are talking about cyberspace here, where anyone can become anything they want to be and express their opinions as freely as they wish. I strongly believe that. that is a right that should be protected. If the internet should become regulated; Where then should we go?

I have been following this case for quite a while and I am quite saddened by the loss of such a young life. Hana is truly gone too soon. If anyone should be held liable i think that it should be the cast members of Terrace House, in particular that individual whom she bullied on set, not the public at large. Thanks for reading my humble opinion.

-1 ( +7 / -8 )

I'm not sure if the law is going to be on her side here in getting a conviction, but as ever, more light on bullying in Japan would be welcome.

It would be interesting to see an age and male/female breakdown of the bullies. My own theory is that some of the worst comments will be from people considered to be completely normal, Hannah Arendt's "banality of evil". If the authorities do identify anyone, the obvious defence is that they were commenting on "Hana Kimura" the act/persona, not Hana Kimura the person. Both Terrace House and Twitter trade on idea of people confusing the two.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

I cannot see how one could be held liable for a suicide.

Its in the first line of the article. She is holding them liable for cyberbullying, not suicide. The fact she committed suicide just goes a long way to proving the severity of the bullying.

We are talking about cyberspace here, where anyone can become anything they want to be and express their opinions as freely as they wish.

If you believe that's true I have to think all your opinions are perfectly mainstream and you post like a Mormon minister. Have no heard of all the people that have faced actual legal troubles for their internet postings including cyberbullying?

I strongly believe that. that is a right that should be protected.

Its should be, but it isn't. People keep getting confused and think pixels are as dangerous as guns and bombs and need to be regulated. In a case like this they will act like no ever committed suicide until the internet came along, or that its now the standard. And on the basis of that they will support wide reaching laws and court decisions. And the authorities will give them and use them to abuse far more people. People are short sighted and stupid.

And the world is full of nuts who will take a show like Terrace House completely seriously. That's not going to change. The real culprits are those who run Terrace House, mislabeling their show as "reality" when it isn't and thereby getting the internet nuts worked up.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

The internet should be a place of complete freedom and anonymity and it should be up to individual users, not the government and not web site operators, to block content and users they don't like. All website operators should be able to do is flag content and known trolls and then you use software to block or see flagged content and users. That situation should be the rule and once everyone understands and gets used to it, cyberbullying will totally lose its edge.

I feel deeply sorry for what happened to Hana Kimura, but blaming words on a screen from people she doesn't even know is hardly productive. If they can drive a person to suicide then people need to protect themselves better, not expect the internet to be a rated G Disney movie.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Depends on who she's going after.

Obviously, people who make threats (online or not) should be punished.

If she intends to go after mere critics, that would be anti free speech, and it's gonna a very long and gruelling process.

If any law is to be changed, it should be in a way that prevents potential bullies from hiding their identities.

The problem with outright banning hate speech is who gets to decide what qualifies as hate speech.

That in turn would create more problems by giving a select group of people far too much power, and would be the first nail in the coffin for free speech.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Offensive comments etc. should be moderated just as they are on JT. But of course different things are offensive to different people......Even though, there should be some standards.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Would love to see more stringent rules about Identifying cyber bully identities in place and holding people accountable to what they say in direct messages to others on social media. Think about the kind of person that would send messages to people they don’t know urging them to commit suicide. You’d have to be a cowardly, mentally unhealthy, sadistic person because I guarantee you would not have the guts to say that to anyone in physical presence. As our world moves more and more online it’s important we weed this kind of bullying out and hold people accountable, because if there’s no liability then it will only get worse. The people sticking up for people like this in these comments make me sick as you’re probably the same types of cowards that use the internet to say and do things you’ll never have the guts to say to anyone in real life.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

This would set a very dangerous precedent if anyone were to be prosecuted.

How would the courts determine which comments in particular were responsible for triggering Ms. Kimura's unfortunate decision?

4 ( +6 / -2 )

I realize she's still in pain over her daughter's death, but on basis does she think she can press charges against someone for making hateful comments in general, let alone online?

If someone was continually making comments threatening the life of someone then I can understand there is some legal basis there.

But comments that are simply rude or hateful does not merit legal charges, it is freedom of speech. I have seen far worse hateful, bigoted, and mean-spirited comments made on here by certain posters against the people and culture of Japan on a regular basis, does that mean they should face charges? That's what I thought.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

It is good she is suing, I doubt there can be any prosecution, but it will stimulate discussions, including legal ones, on the guidelines of social media conduct. Where does one draw the line? "Your acting is so poor, Your dress/hair style/ make up etc. is so bad" may be aggressive, but within acceptable limits. "You should die, you are worthless, etc." are at a different level and some accountability mechanism should be enabled. The gray zone in between is the most difficult to define.

-4 ( +4 / -8 )

Welcome to the internet. In case you haven't realised this, everybody gets insulted by random people online. Choosing to expose your private life to millions of people comes with a price.

This conclusion is fine when it comes to celebrities. My main concern with cyberbullying in Japan is bullying of ordinary people that extends from real-world bullying, in the same school, workplace, sports team, neighbourhood association, etc. Such people are not necessarily "choosing" to be on the platform where they are being bullied.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

I can't begin to imagine the despair the mother is feeling, but any attack on free speech is a crime against humanity in my view as it is one of the most important freedoms we can have in this dreadful world, just look what's happening to free speech in the US with their cancel culture garbage, a cancerous virus far worse than COVID will ever be.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

This isn't the same as being bullied at school or on the school bus where it's often an everyday, face-to-face occurrence that's very difficult to avoid. Nobody is forced to use or maintain social media. It's a choice. She could've easily closed her accounts and avoided the 'cyber-bullying'. People like her want the publicity, the attention, the notoriety until it starts to go against you. Well, you still have a choice.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Going for censorship ?

Celebrity comes with a price.

Bullying is when it can't avoided, not when you can click a button to stop it anytime anywhere.

Sad.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

she was an adult, not a child, and therefore completely responsible for her actions.

Yeah, and presumably so were most of the trolls whose reprehensible bullying drove her to that. They should be held responsible for their actions too.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Good on the mother for taking steps towards creating a better society. I hope regardless of the outcome her message will be heard.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

she intends to identify people who made defamatory posts against her daughter on social media.

yeah.........how are you supposed to track down 10-100 thousand people making a million negative comments against her?

Good luck with all that. Maybe after you're done suing them, you could go after people that use emojis in their text messages.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

It's the shareholder owners of these reality shows that exploit vulnerable contestants and create and encourage conflict and gossip who should be held responsible for these tragic suicides.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Good for her. Hope this starts a trend in people being more cautious what they say on line

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Nobody but Ms Kimura is responsible for her death. She chose to die by her own hand. Her own decision.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

I wish her the best of luck in her legal case. People should be held accountable for abuse and cyberbullying. I also wish that people understood that "freedom of speech" does not equate to free reign to abuse, threaten, and act like a piece of filth online towards others.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I wish her luck.

People should not have the freedom to harass other people hiding under the anonymity of the Internet.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Good on her.

The internet is full of brave types who can easily resort to bullying, racism, stalking and making threats.

It's time that people made a stand and that platforms do, too.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Offensive comments etc. should be moderated just as they are on JT. But of course different things are offensive to different people......Even though, there should be some standards.

Oh, for sure.

It's interesting on various social and discussion sites and platforms. The rules are regularly broken by racists, incels and violent types but it's the targets of such cowardly attacks that end up being silenced.

Cyberbullies, especially like the ones harassing Hana Kimura should be named and shamed. See how they like the attention.

And may I clarify, am talking about official ways to admonish the bullies - not advocating doxxing by online vigilantes.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

As much as I like and use the Internet (e.g. for news, emailing, information), SNS sites are one thing that I never got into and could see being done away with. SNS sites makes it too easy for bullies to feel stronger to bully someone. Whatever happened to using the old fashioned telephone and email to connect with friends and family?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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