Abandon all hope, ye who enter Japanese courts.
A former professional judge, Hiroshi Segi, says he grew so disenchanted with what he came to see as the "corrupt" and "ugly" realities of the nation's judicial system that after 30 years he quit his job and became a professor at Meiji University's law school in 2012.
"The Japanese judiciary is extremely sheltered and full of bureaucratic elites," Segi recently told The Japan Times. "In such a world, the principle of strict hierarchy reigns supreme, while any individuals who are liberal-minded and outspoken are purged."