No redress granted to Japanese woman after break-up

The decision by the top court\'s No. 1 Petty Bench reverses a lower court ruling in favour of the woman, a university professor. The plaintiff and the defendant had two children but did not live together. The Tokyo High Court had ordered the man to pay her 1m yen, saying breaking the relationship constituted arbitrary betrayal of hopes that it would continue. At issue, says The Japan Times, was whether their relationship was entitled to legal protection, even though it does not go as far as constituting common-law marriage since the couple lived apart. Full report in The Japan Times