In the runup to the notorious Nanjing massacre, a Japanese newspaper reported in 1937 with the tone of a sports story that two army lieutenants played a game on who would be the first to decapitate 100 Chinese soldiers.
The story was meant to boost morale in wartime Japan, but relatives of the two lieutenants, who were later executed, filed a lawsuit in 2003 saying the article was false.
Tokyo District Court Judge Akio Doi rejected the suit, saying, "The lieutenants admitted the fact that they raced to kill 100 people."
"We cannot deny that the article included some false elements and exaggeration, but it is difficult to say the article was fiction not based on facts," Doi told the court.
"Since a final historical assessment on whether the contest of killing 100 people has not yet been made, we cannot say (the article) was obviously false," he said.
Relatives of the two lieutenants sought a total of 36 million yen (330,000 dollars) in compensation from two newspapers: the Mainichi Shimbun, the forerunner of which ran the 1937 story, and the liberal Asahi Shimbun, which in 1971 ran an article saying the contest had taken place.
The Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun, which later became the Mainichi Shimbun, ran the article with the headline, "Super record 100 cut down: Mukai at 106 vs Noda at 105. The two lieutenants go into a playoff."
It was referring to lieutenants Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda, who were later executed by an Allied tribunal over the Nanjing massacre.
The plaintiffs included Chieko Mukai, the daughter of Toshiaki Mukai, who said the report was "groundless" and had tainted the two families' reputation.
Beheadings or suing over the articles? 