Japan Fact-check Center (JFC) Annual Activity Report 2024

1:Establishment and Organizational Structure

The Japan Fact-check Center (JFC) is a non-profit organization dedicated to fact-checking and promoting media literacy, with the aim of enhancing the health of public discourse online, on which democracy depends.

According to the JFC Establishment Regulations, our activities center on two pillars: fact-checking, which assesses disputed claims against evidence, and media literacy education, which helps people navigate today’s information environment.

This section introduces JFC's establishment background and organizational structure.

Establishment Background

JFC was established in October 2022 under the Safer Internet Association (SIA), a general incorporated association. The catalyst was the "promotion of private-sector initiatives" mentioned in the report by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' "Study Group on Platform Services," published in February 2020.

SIA—whose membership consists primarily of domestic internet companies working to address illegal and harmful online content—then convened a “Disinformation Countermeasures Forum” with experts. JFC was subsequently established based on the forum’s discussions.

Organizational Structure

Although JFC is an internal organization of SIA, the operation of its editorial department is separated from SIA's activities to maintain independence from SIA itself and its member companies in fact-checking efforts.

The JFC Editorial Department is entrusted with the selection of daily fact-checking targets, the practical work of verification, and the publication of articles. The Steering Committee, composed of experts, evaluates whether the JFC Editorial Department maintains impartiality and fairness in its fact-checking work.

The Steering Committee evaluates whether the editorial department conducts verifications in accordance with JFC's fact-checking guidelines and also has the authority to recommend the dismissal of the editor-in-chief to the Board of Directors. Furthermore, an Audit Committee is established to confirm the proper governance of the Steering Committee and the entire Editorial Department.

JFC's Establishment Regulations, which define these rules, are published [here](only in Japanese). The JFC Audit Committee Operating Regulations are published [here](only in Japanese).

Steering Committee

Chairperson:

Masahiro Sogabe (Professor, Graduate School of Law, Kyoto University)

Vice Chairperson:

Hajime Ogawa (Guest Editorial Writer, The Mainichi Newspapers)

Members:

Maiko Ichihara (Professor, Graduate School of Law, Hitotsubashi University)
Kazuhiro Taira (Professor, Obirin University)
Eishiro Mizutani (Associate Professor, Keio University Media and Communications Research Institute)

Audit Committee

Chairperson:

Megumi Yamamuro (Lawyer, Special Advisor at Uryu & Itoga Law Firm)

Members:

Ikuko Komachiya (Lawyer, New York State Attorney, Legal i Plus Law Office)
Tsunehisa Shishido (Professor, Graduate School of Law and Politics, The University of Tokyo)

Secretariat

Secretary-General:

Sho Yoshida (Executive Director, Safer Internet Association)

JFC Editorial Department

The JFC Editorial Department consists of experienced professional journalists and editors, along with student interns. It also benefits from the cooperation of the research team, affiliated with SIA and knowledgeable in internet investigations.

Below are the members of the JFC Editorial Department. We plan to expand our team further, including editors strong in internet and OSINT, and students interested in fact-checking.

Editor-in-Chief: Daisuke Furuta

After serving in the social affairs department and as Singapore bureau chief at Asahi Shimbun, he moved to the digital editorial department. He resigned in 2015 to become the founding editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed Japan. In 2019, he became an independent freelance journalist and, from 2020-2022, worked as a Google News Lab Teaching Fellow, conducting digital journalism seminars for over 20,000 journalists. His other key positions include Secretary-General of the Digital Journalists Education Institute (D-JEDI). He is also a part-time lecturer at Keio, Waseda, and Kinki Universities. He completed the News Innovation and Leadership program at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism in 2021. He was a US-Japan Leadership Program Japan Delegate (2022-2023) and completed the US Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program, "Integrity of Journalism" in 2018.

Editor: Ayako Netsu

Joined NHK in 2002, serving as a program production director for "Ohayou Nippon," "Tokuhou Shutoken," and "BS Tokushu," among others. After becoming independent in 2011, she worked on chatbot scenario production for a startup and VR content production for a foundation. Since around 2022, she deepened her interest in "learning and the process of cognitive and behavioral change" and returned to university to obtain Certified Psychologist, accredited by the Japanese Psychological Association. Currently, in addition to her work at JFC,.she produces adult learning content for a private company and contributes to NHK World’s French-language programming.

Editor: Kamome Fujimori

Produced documentaries and news programs for NHK, TV Asahi, TV Tokyo, and others at a TV program production company. Joined Asahi Shimbun in 2001. In the social affairs and special reporting departments in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya, she handled investigative reporting, prosecutors, police, and administration, receiving the Sakata Memorial Journalism Award Special Prize for a series of investigative reports surrounding "Kansai Electric Power's Hidden History: A Monologue" which pursued power interests in nuclear energy. She resigned in 2016. Currently, while raising a child,, she writes articles on news commentary, business, education, and lifestyles for middle-aged and older adults for magazines, books, and web media.

Interns

JFC employs paid student interns who are involved in selecting fact-checking targets and conducting actual verifications. Many students aim to become journalists, but there are also aspiring researchers, undergraduates, and graduate students interested in the internet and the information environment..

Research Team

The Safer Internet Association (SIA), JFC’s parent organization, has long worked to combat internet misuse and defamation and employs staff with deep expertise in how information spreads online. SIA staff also contribute to JFC’s fact-checking as a research team.

IFCN Certification

JFC is a fact-checking organization certified by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) after undergoing its review process. IFCN upholds five principles of fact-checking, and certified organizations are required to adhere to them.

2:Activity Guidelines

To maintain the credibility of its fact-checking, the Japan Fact-check Center (JFC) publicly shares its methodologies and judgment criteria.

Fact-Checking Guidelines

JFC has established Fact-Checking Guidelines (full text [here](only in Japanese)) to ensure fair fact-checking practices. These guidelines were determined by the Secretariat and the Steering Committee, based on IFCN's five principles.

The Editorial Department conducts verifications based on these guidelines, and the Steering Committee evaluates their fairness and proper operation. For an overview and specific methodologies, please also refer to the Editorial Department's Fact-Checking Guidelines available [here](only in Japanese).

Principles of Independence, Impartiality, and Transparency

Especially crucial for fact-checking are the principles of the Editorial Department's independence, impartiality, and transparency.

Although SIA is JFC's operating entity, the Editorial Department has the authority over what to verify and how to verify it, ensuring it is not influenced by SIA's directives.

To ensure the Editorial Department's independence, a Steering Committee and an Audit Committee have been established to conduct post-facto reviews of JFC's overall policies and individual verification articles.

Furthermore, we enhance organizational transparency by publicly disclosing our organizational structure, members, and financial statements.

Criteria for Selecting Verification Targets

To ensure impartiality, it is essential not only to conduct all verifications fairly but also to be fair in selecting what to verify.

Among the countless claims circulating in the world, JFC selects verification targets based on three indicators: "breadth" (the number of people affected), "depth" (the severity of the impact), and "proximity" (the relevance or familiarity of the impact).

Regarding breadth, we examine factors such as the number of shares on social media and views on video platforms. We also take into account information provided by users through our LINE account and other submission channels.

Fact-checking focuses not on opinion, but on the portion of a publicly presented claim asserted as "fact".

For example, in the statement "It’s cloudy. It looks like rain. I should take an umbrella," only the factual element– "It’s cloudy."—would be subject to verification.

Rating

JFC's fact-checking rating criteria are as follows: Accurate, Almost accurate, Baseless, Inaccurate, False.

Cooperation between JFC and SIA

While the creation of JFC's fact-checking articles is operated completely independently from SIA, the two organizations cooperate in certain areas, primarily in education.

In particular, JFC’s expertise in fact-checking and media literacy is utilized in SIA’s widely offered Net Safety Education Program for individuals, corporations, and local governments. Conversely, SIA’s extensive, long-standing expertise is incorporated into JFC’s own programs.

Our policy is to ensure JFC's independence as a fact-checking organization while collaborating in areas where SIA has particular strengths, such as media literacy education.

3:Fact-Checks — Expanding Across Platforms with Articles and Videos

The core of the Japan Fact-check Center's (JFC) activities lies in its daily fact-checking operations. Articles and videos are distributed not only on the JFC website but also across various platforms. The number of articles and views has shown a consistent upward trend since our establishment in October 2022.

Increase in Articles and Views

At the time of its establishment, JFC published 10 fact-check articles per month on its website. By December 2024, this number had increased to 30-40 per month.

Thanks to multi-platform distribution and SEO efforts, the combined total of page views and video views has consistently risen, exceeding 6 million monthly views as of November 2024.

Diversification of Verification Targets

Our verification targets have become increasingly diverse. Initially, many focused on COVID-19 and vaccines. During general elections and the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election, we covered election-related topics. We also address international relations topics, such as the wars between Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, as well as the U.S. presidential election.

When disasters occur, the number of disaster-related topics increases significantly. Globally, false and misleading information about women and LGBTQ+ individuals is also prone to spreading rapidly.

In-depth Analysis and Pre-bunking through Explanations and Interviews

To deepen public understanding and promote countermeasures against false and misleading information, JFC publishes not only individual verification articles but also explanatory and interview based pieces.

Examples include an interview with a relevant minister about influence operations during the internationally monitored Taiwanese presidential election, and summaries of false and misleading information that tends to spread during disasters.

The practice of anticipating false and misleading information and proactively disseminating accurate information is called pre-bunking. If people encounter false information first, they are more likely to accept it as fact. A survey of 20,000 people conducted jointly by JFC and GLOCOM at International University found that an average of 51.5% of respondents perceived false information as "correct."

Pre-bunking seeks to create an "information vaccine" effect by spreading accurate information in advance. JFC has implemented this approach for events such as the release of treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the ocean and during elections.

Fact-checking Videos

Information consumption is increasingly shifting from text to video, and a significant amount of false and misleading information also spreads through video content. To address this, JFC produces fact-checking videos in addition to articles.

As of October 2024, we are distributing four short videos per month on platforms such as YouTube and TikTok. Looking ahead, we plan to incorporate AI -assisted editing—drawing inspiration from methods used by fact-checking organizations in other countries —to further expand our video content.

Multi-platform Expansion

A crucial aspect of combating false and misleading information is delivering fact-checked articles and videos directly to those who need them—on the very platforms where such information circulates.

JFC distributes articles and videos not only on its own website but also on video platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, and social media platforms including X, Facebook, and Instagram. Furthermore, we deliver content to Yahoo! News, Japan's most widely used news aggregator.

Addressing "Information Voids" through SEO

A well-known 2018 MIT study found that "false information spreads six times faster than facts." However, this study was limited to Twitter (now X). The actual spread and impact of information are far more complex.

Most fact-checked articles published by JFC do not spread as widely on X as the false or misleading information they we debunk. As the MIT study also points out, false information often stimulates emotions such as novelty and surprise.

The picture is different in Google search results. Many of JFC’s fact-checks rank higher than websites containing temporary narratives that spread on social media. Over the long term, this visibility helps prevent the repeated spread of similar false and misleading information.

For example, "chemtrail" conspiracy theory —a bizarre claim that condensation trails from airplanes are actually chemicals sprayed to poison the population—has circulated in the U.S. since the 1990s. In October 2022, JFC verified this claim and identified it as baseless and false.

Before our article was published, Google search results for "chemtrail" predominantly displayed personal blogs and other unreliable sites explaining that "chemtrails are dangerous." Now, JFC's article consistently ranks high, attracting thousands of readers each month via Google searches.

This situation illustrates what we call an information void: when reliable explanations of a claim are scarce, leaving only untrustworthy sources to fill the gap. For instance, someone might see a social media post with a photo of an airplane’s condensation trail and the caption, “It’s a chemtrail. It’s dangerous,” prompting them to search “what is a chemtrail?” Without credible sources, they risk falling into conspiracy theory.

JFC addresses these information voids by combining fact-checking with search engine optimization (SEO) strategies, ensuring that accurate information is accessible not only on social media but also through search engines.

4:Media and Information Literacy Education: Promoting Self-Defense Measures

Alongside fact-checking, the Japan Fact-check Center (JFC) considers media and information literacy education as one of its two main pillars of activity. This is to equip users with the ability to independently discern the truthfulness of information and verify it themselves.

Using insights from our daily verification work and our verification techniques, we have created practical courses—publicly available to all—that address false and misleading information circulating in Japan.

JFC Fact-Checking Course

The JFC Fact-Checking Course offers all 10 theoretical and 10 practical sessions for free on both YouTube and as articles.

The theoretical sessions cover media and information literacy, including the actual state of false and misleading information spread in Japan, biases and algorithms that cause its dissemination, and critical thinking as the foundation of literacy.

The practical sessions teach specific fact-checking techniques, such as advanced search methods, image and video verification techniques, and the generation of and countermeasures against AI-generated misinformation.

The course has received high praise, with 93.1% of viewers giving positive feedback, stating that they had "gained knowledge about false and misleading information" (as of November 11, 2024).

Certification System and Instructor Training Course

For users who completed the Fact-Checking Course, we offer the "JFC Fact-Checker Certification Exam." It can be taken online, and successful candidates are awarded a JFC Fact-Checker certification badge through the "Open Badges" system.

Since October 2024,JFC has also offered an Instructor Training Course for certified Fact-Checkers whowish to teach or hold seminars on fact-checking and media information literacy in schools or workplaces.

This course focuses primarily on the most in-demand portions of the theoretical and practical sessions from the Fact-Checking Course. Participants learn how to design and conduct seminars, with sessions held online once a month. Those who complete the 90-minute session are awarded a JFC Trainer certification badge along with regularly updated teaching materials.

The Instructor Training Course has received 100% positive evaluations from participants, stating that they "gained knowledge to conduct classes and seminars" (as of November 11, 2024).

The teaching materials provided to certified trainers are continuously updated to adapt to the rapidly changing information environment and new verification tools.

Utilization in Seminars and Classroom Lectures Across Various Locations

JFC Editor-in-Chief Daisuke Furuta and Deputy Editor-in-Chief Seiji Miyamoto conduct seminars both locally and online in response to requests from across the country. From JFC's inception in October 2022 to November 11, 2024, a total of over 5,000 people participated in 79 such events.

Additionally, because the courses published by JFC are freely accessible, they are widely utilized from elementary schools to universities.

Hosting an International Fact-Checking Championship for Middle School to University Students

From November to December 2024, JFC collaborated with fact-checking organizations in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia to host the Youth Verification Challenge (YVC). In Japan, it was co-hosted with Classroom Adventure, a student startup focused on media literacy education.

This 3-day online event involved learning fact-checking methods in a pre-event, followed by national and international competitions. Approximately 150 participants from 60 teams, aged 12-24 (excluding elementary school students), took part.

YVC was originally held by Google in 2021, with JFC Editor-in-Chief Daisuke Furuta being the person in charge for Japan at Google at the time. Since Google stopped hosting the event from 2023, fact-checking organizations took over its operation. Classroom Adventure is a startup founded by the winning team of the 2022 Japan competition, and two of its founding members are also working as interns at JFC.

YVC plans to increase participating countries and continue holding the championship in subsequent years.

5:Research and Development Collaborations: Partnering with Companies and Specialized Institutions

JFC collaborates with various research institutions, companies, and other organizations on research and development efforts related to countermeasures against false and misleading information.

Surveys on the Reality and Countermeasures of False and Misleading Information

JFC commissioned International University GLOCOM to conduct a survey (preliminary survey: 20,000 people, main survey: 5,000 people), collaborating with them from the stage of setting the survey items. This research examined how 15 pieces of false information that had actually spread in Japan were disseminated.

The average percentage of respondents who answered that they "thought the false information was correct" reached 51.5%, reaffirming its serious impact. Furthermore, "wordofmouth" was found to be the most common diffusion channel, and it was revealed that information was often spread out of goodwill, for reasons such as "I found it interesting" or "I thought it was important."

The report is available for free on the JFC website and has been downloadedover 2,600 times(as of November 11, 2024). The survey also examined effective educational methods, which have been used in developing the JFC Fact-Checking Course program.

In 2025, JFC collaborated with Dentsu Soken to conduct an "Information Integrity Survey," which was released in April.

Cross-Industry Symposiums

In April 2024, JFC hosted a symposium to discuss countermeasures against false and misleading information. It was the largest symposium of its kind to date, featuring cross-industry content, including an explanation of the 20,000-person survey and panel discussions with JFC representatives, researchers, platform providers, and government officials. The content is available for viewing in archived videos.

In 2025, JFC held another symposium on April 2, coinciding with International Fact-Checking Day.

Utilizing LINE AI Bot and AI Tools for Fake Video Countermeasures

The application of new technologies transcends borders. JFC collaborates with Western organizations advancing the use of AI for disinformation countermeasures, leveraging these advancements in JFC's fact-checking activities and content distribution.

Meedan, a global non-profit organization based in San Francisco, provides AI bot technology to fact-checking organizations worldwide, and JFC is its first partner in Japan. Connected to JFC's official LINE account, the AI bot answers user questions from JFC's database of over 500 articles.

JFC also utilizes AI tools from the UK tech company Logically.ai to detect fake videos and support verification, maintaining a cooperative system to provide feedback and ensure thattools function effectively in the Japanese language environment.

Development Cooperation with Domestic Companies

Technology development to counter disinformation is also progressing in Japan. JFC collaborates with domestic development companies by providing insights from its daily fact-checking activities—such as what kinds of false and misleading information are actually spreading in Japan, on which platforms, and how they are verified—to help develop more effective technologies.

6:Contribution to a Harmonious Information Ecosystem: Society-Wide Initiatives

Countermeasures against false and misleading information go beyond fact-checking and media information literacy education. This section presents JFC's proposals for initiatives to be implemented across society.

Limitations of Fact-Checking

Lies can be created instantly, but verification takes time. Moreover, faced with the massive spread of false and misleading information, the capacity of organizations and individuals conducting fact-checks is limited.

False and misleading information also tends to spread more easily on social media due to sensational headlines and content. The development of AI capable of generating disinformation endlessly is advancing, and there are also deliberate actors who profit from it.

On the other hand, while fact-checking may have less short-term virality on social media compared to false and misleading information, it has the advantage of ranking higher in search results on platforms like Google through strategic SEO, making it effective in the medium to long term. However, it is clear that fact-checking alone is insufficient as a countermeasure.

Contribution to Society-Wide Initiatives

JFC is engaged not only in fact-checking but also in media literacy education, and is further advancing collaborations in technology development and research.

False and misleading information infiltrates "information voids" where essential information is lacking. Therefore, the widespread dissemination of highly reliable information from media outlets, public institutions, and specialized organizations is a crucial countermeasure. The establishment of rules, including legal frameworks, is also required.

It is essential for all institutions involved in these fields to cooperate in expanding comprehensive, multi-layered countermeasures. A society-wide effort involving "public institutions such as governments and local authorities," "private sectors such as businesses," and "civil society organizations such as NPOs and research institutions" is indispensable.

JFC hopes that its expertise, gained from actively verifying false and misleading information, will be utilized in these broader initiatives.

7:Support and Accounting

The Japan Fact-check Center (JFC) provides fact-checking services free of charge. Charging for verification articles while misinformation and disinformation spread freely would make it impossible to counter them effectively.

Therefore, JFC primarily relies on donations and grants to fund its operations. To maintain organizational transparency, it regularly discloses information on its budget and newly received financial aid in this section.

Accounting

To ensure independence not only from external sources but also from SIA, our operating entity, the budgets of SIA and JFC are managed separately in independent accounts.

Financial documents for each fiscal year will be disclosed in this section. The first fiscal year covers the period from our establishment on October 1, 2022, to the end of March 2023. Thereafter, documents approved by SIA's Board of Directors each June, following the end of the fiscal year in March, will be published sequentially.

Fiscal Year 2024 Accounting

JFC's revenue and expenditure report for Fiscal Year 2024 (April 2024 - March 2025) is [here].

Our total income is 50,183,735 JPY, including 45,182,768 JPY from grants by Google.org, LINE Yahoo Japan Corporation, and Meta, plus other income from teaching material production, lectures, and news distribution. Total expenditures amount to 61,964,374 JPY, including 14,656,510 JPY for research and development expenses, such as video and teaching material production for the JFC Fact-Checking Course.

The deficit is covered by the carried-over balance from the previous fiscal year.

A breakdown of SIA's income for Fiscal Year 2024 is [here].

Fiscal Year 2023 Accounting

JFC's revenue and expenditure report for Fiscal Year 2023 (April 2023 - March 2024) is [here].

Our total income is 83,466,733 JPY, including 82,676,499 JPY from grants by Google.org, LINE Yahoo Japan Corporation, and Meta, plus other income from news distribution. Total expenditures amount to 70,141,389 JPY, including 20,613,505 JPY for research and development expenses, such as the 20,000-person survey conducted with International University GLOCOM.

The difference has been carried over to Fiscal Year 2024 for expenses related to content production for literacy improvement (e.g., YouTube videos).

A breakdown of SIA's income for Fiscal Year 2023 is [here].

Fiscal Year 2022 Accounting

JFC's revenue and expenditure report for Fiscal Year 2022 (October 2022 - March 2023) is [here].

Income amounted to 124,035,538 JPY from grants by Google.org and Yahoo! Japan Corporation, while expenditures, including the setup period, totaled 36,517,596 JPY.

The difference has been carried over for research and development with external organizations, tool development for fact-checking, and teaching material development for literacy improvement.

A breakdown of SIA's income for Fiscal Year 2022 is [here].

List of Organizations that have Supported JFC

(As of the end of January 2024)

Upon its establishment in October 2022, JFC received 1.5 million USD from Google.org and 20 million JPY from Yahoo! JAPAN.

Furthermore, in October 2023 (our second year), we received 5 million JPY from LINE Yahoo, and in December of the same year, 4 million JPY from Meta.

JFC is dedicated to improving the information environment and promoting fact-checking and media literacy to protect a healthy democratic society. To maintain and strengthen our activities, we seek broad support from various companies, organizations, and individuals who share our vision.

Google.org
LINE Yahoo
Meta

Financial Challenges of Fact-Checking Organizations

The biggest challenge for fact-checking organizations is their weak financial foundation. If fact-checking articles are charged for, their reach is limited, whereas false and misleading information spreads freely. Unlike entertainment or scandal-related articles, they generate limited advertising revenue due to a lack of massive views.

According to the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN)'s "Fact-Checker Survey Report," which examined 137 fact-checking organizations worldwide, 83.7% of them expressed concerns about funding and financial sustainability.

Approximately 70% have an annual budget of 75 million JPY or less — those with small organizations having an annual budget of 15 million JPY or less accounting for 40% of the total.

In addition to donations from major platforms, JFC is increasing its revenue from content distribution and advertising. We are also increasing revenue from educational projects.

Nevertheless, if even one major platform's donation ceases, there is a risk of activity suspension within a few months. In South Korea, the Seoul National University Fact-Check Center actually suspended operations when support from a major platform stopped.

We kindly ask for your continued support to ensure stable operations and further development.

Corrections

[Correction] Fiscal Year 2023 Accounting (2025/03/12)

A 1 JPY error in "Human Resource Development Expenses" in the Expenditure section has been corrected, and the revised version has been posted.
- (Incorrect) Human Resource Development Expenses ※2: ¥14,778,393
- (Correct) Human Resource Development Expenses ※2: ¥14,778,392
- Reason for error: When splitting staff personnel expenses into two categories —"Personnel Expenses ※1" and "Human Resource Development Expenses ※2" —the original amount was an odd number, leading to a split of 0.5 JPY each. However, both amounts were rounded up to the nearest 1 JPY when displayed.
Annotations have been revised to the clearer expressions below:
- Before revision:
  - ※1: A certain percentage of editorial staff personnel expenses recorded.
  - ※2: A certain percentage of editorial staff personnel expenses and intern personnel expenses recorded.
  - ※4: Legal consultation fees, meeting expenses, consumable purchases (including PCs), system usage fees, travel and transportation expenses recorded.
- After revision:
  - ※1: Part of editorial staff personnel expenses, excluding those related to human resource development in ※2, recorded.
  - ※2: Intern and editorial staff personnel expenses related to human resource development recorded.
  - ※4: Legal consultation fees, meeting expenses, committee honoraria, consumable purchases (including PCs), system usage fees, travel and transportation expenses recorded.

[Correction] Fiscal Year 2022 Accounting (2025/03/12)

A 1 JPY error in "Human Resource Development Expenses" in the Expenditure section has been corrected, and the revised version is posted.
- (Incorrect) Human Resource Development Expenses ※2: ¥5,681,946
- (Correct) Human Resource Development Expenses ※2: ¥5,681,945
- Reason for error: When splitting staff personnel expenses into two categories—"Personnel Expenses ※1" and "Human Resource Development Expenses ※2" —the original amount was an odd number, leading to a split of 0.5 JPY each. However, both amounts were rounded up to the nearest 1 JPY when displayed.
Annotations have been revised to the clearer expressions below:
- Before revision:
  - ※1: A certain percentage of editorial staff personnel expenses recorded.
  - ※2: A certain percentage of editorial staff personnel expenses and intern personnel expenses recorded.
  - ※4: Legal consultation fees, meeting expenses, consumable purchases (including PCs), system usage fees, travel and transportation expenses recorded.
- After revision:
  - ※1: Part of editorial staff personnel expenses, excluding those related to human resource development in ※2, recorded.
  - ※2: Intern and editorial staff personnel expenses related to human resource development recorded.
  - ※4: Legal consultation fees, meeting expenses, committee honoraria, consumable purchases (including PCs), system usage fees, travel and transportation expenses recorded.