Xinhua News Agency, Tokyo, July 28th - The Tokyo District Court of Japan ruled on July 28th that the Prince Hotel must pay 290 million yen (approximately 3 million USD) in compensation. The hotel was accused of breaching a contract by refusing guests and ignoring court orders.
According to Kyodo News, based on the indictment, the Japan Teachers' Union booked 190 rooms and a venue at a branch of the Prince Hotel in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March 2007, intending to hold an annual national education seminar in February the following year. However, fearing that right-wing groups opposing the teachers' union might cause trouble around the hotel, affecting other guests and nearby residents, the hotel unilaterally canceled the contract in November.
After the teachers' union filed a lawsuit, both the Tokyo District Court and the Tokyo High Court successively ordered the hotel to continue fulfilling the contract, but this was refused.
In the ruling, Judge Kiyotaka Konno of the Tokyo District Court stated on July 28th that the Prince Hotel canceled the contract without proper justification, clearly constituting a breach of contract; refusing to execute the court's order is considered illegal behavior.
In addition to the large amount of compensation, the court also required the Prince Hotel to publicly apologize to the teachers' union in newspapers as part of the judgment.