Get sued because of Line block?

Hello,

I hope you may be able to help me.

A person in Japan is announcing to sue me based on Civil Code 709 and 710.
I got to know this person on a forum for Japanese friend exchange and we exchanged or LINE messenger data.
After texting for a while I asked if he would like to show me a photo of him. After seeing the photo I soon blocked him because I thought I don't want to continue to chat. I didn't want to especially harm him by doing that, just my decision to end the chat based on everything we talked about. I never said anything harming, it's just about the block that he said he would sue.

Now he said to me twice to sue me by long messages in Japanese (which I only understood half by a translator) on the original forum because he insists I mentally damaged him by blocking soon after seeing his photo.
He even compared me to Hitler for judging people by their appearance.
He said he would find my information over my IP address and will sue me even when I go back home.

Is it possible for him to sue me for that reason?
He said I would have to pay 500.000 Yen if he wins and could never return to Japan, is that true?

I am very troubled and afraid because he said he would sue because I didn't apologize for a month after his first message.

Thank you for your help!

No. Simple as that.

Just so I'm clear about this...

1. You met a guy online and exchanged Line IDs
2. You started text chatting
3. You asked him for a photo.
4. He sent you a photo.
5. You then blocked him.
6. He got upset and threatened to sue you.

The short and simple answer you're looking for is that of course he cannot sue you for blocking him. I imagine that he doesn't even know your full real name or address anyway, right? Even if he did, he would still be unable to sue you and have any expectation of winning any damages.

That said, you may want to look again at items 3-6 above and think about whether you could have handled things differently. I think that anyone could reasonably be expected to feel badly treated if asked for a photo and then blocked after sending it. That's simply not very nice behavior on your part...

Yes, you got that right.
He said he would find my name and address over my IP and immigration office or something. Kind of scary.

Thank you very much for your answer.
I am relieved now.

I didn't block him because of the photo but because he gave my ID to at least 7 other people I don't know and they all suddenly contacted.
The other reason is that I felt unwell with the conversation since a while before too.
He just assumed it was because of the photo.

But still I may have should said something before but I just wanted to end this because I felt uncomfortable.

OK, well, I really wouldn't worry any more about it. It's just hot air...

How is he contacting you now btw? Since he's now blocked on Line.

He's contacting me over the original forum by really long and complicated mails.
He said I should apologise and a month later he said he would sue because I didn't do that.

I thought the first mail was just random spam because there was no name and all.

Well, I guess to him the blocking came at an unfortunate timing in the sense that he could easily get (or make up) the impression that the blocking was due to his looks :( I would have blocked him for giving out my IDs to others.

But to me that sounds like an internet stalker of some sort in the making. I think the best you can is to ignore him completely.

Can you report him to the forum mods? If he's using threats and abusive language, they should be told...

Yes, I reported him twice and for the last message he used a new account... He can do that as often as he wants I think...

I will try to ignore him as best as I can...

I feel silly for feeling anxious about such a unrealistic thread.

I feel better hearing your opinion about it, thank you.

PM me his email address and I'll send him a counter threat to sue...

This is not possible for him to sue you after you blocked him, if he needs to sue, tell him to sue line for having that function.

Unless you have posted some of personal information for people to view online, there is no way he can obtain your information unless he knows how to hack, and very knowledgable in networking.

BTW what was the reason for the blocking, you don't need to answer if you don't want to.

Ah, thank you for the offer, if he sends another message I will come back to it.

I think I mentioned why I blocked him before. He told my ID to strangers and I felt uncomfortable with the conversation in general and now I think I have been right about my bad feeling ...

Just ignore him completely. He is just looking for an easy target to rip off some money.

IANAL and this is probably moot since he's obviously just trolling you but here are the relevant articles from the Japanese Civil Code:

Article 709 A person who has intentionally or negligently infringed any right of others, or legally protected interest of others, shall be liable to compensate any damages resulting in consequence.

Article 710 Persons liable for damages under the provisions of the preceding Article must also compensate for damages other than those to property, regardless of whether the body, liberty or reputation of others have been infringed, or property rights of others have been infringed.

So, Article 709... since you replying to his messages is in no way his right, he has no case. As for Article 710, since there has been no damage (other than to his pride), again he has no claim under this law.

Those forum mods should be able to block his IP, incidentally.

Thank you for explaining the articles.
There is really no way that he could sue in any way.

I really need to be able to keep my cool in the future... Sorry for the silly question... ^^'

I reported both messages, so I just hope he won't be able to send me messages anymore....

Why not delete your forum account and start a new one, unless for some reason you need your original name. He probably can't track you down when you have a new username.

Why dont you counter sue him, since you mention he shared your ID with other people without your approval or knowledge.
Japanese people are very uptight about sharing private information without prior approval.

Sue over an internet friendship/relationship? Talk about soft. I would just tell the person to go jump.