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LEAD: Court rejects African-American's damages claim over denied entry+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)OSAKA, Jan. 30_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: ADDING INFO, COMMENTS) The Osaka District Court rejected a damages suit Monday filed by a U.S. citizen living in Kyoto Prefecture who said he was denied entry to an Osaka optical shop in 2004 because he is black. The 41-year-old man, a designer living in the town of Seika, had demanded the shop owner pay 5.5 million yen in damages. "It was inappropriate for the owner to have asked (the man) who was in front of the shop to leave...but it cannot be recognized that (the owner) made remarks discriminating against black people," Judge Yoshifumi Saga said in handing down the ruling. The man said after the ruling that it is a sad day and that he feels like living in Alabama or Louisiana in the 1950s. He also said that he will continue to fight until he receives equal treatment with Japanese people. According to the ruling, the shop owner told the man in Japanese to leave when he was in front of the premises with a non-Japanese friend in September 2004. The man said the shop owner shouted, "I hate black people." Saga said that the claim lacked credibility. According to the lawsuit, the owner used the derogatory term "kokujin," or black people, when denying the man entry, and the man said the remark is racist. The man later returned to the shop with his Japanese wife to ask why he was denied entry. The owner said he had received a phone call from someone saying they were unable to enter the premises because "two strange people" were in front, according to the lawsuit. The judge rejected the claim by the owner about the phone call. |