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July 06, 2025
 

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Setsuko Kamiya

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Setsuko Kamiya
Setsuko Kamiya is a staff writer and editor covering local news, including legal issues, and has been following the ongoing judicial reform. A 2005 Fulbright journalist grantee, she studied the American jury system in California.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 18, 2014
Hirata trial highlights evolving court system
In the same courtroom where many of his fellow Aum Shinrikyo cult members were tried years before, Makoto Hirata was convicted and sentenced earlier this month.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2013
Lay judges get a peek at prison life
When lay judges hand down a prison term, many focus on the merits of the case itself and not about the life behind bars that awaits the guilty.
Japan Times
JAPAN
May 30, 2013
Tsunami hero continuing disaster education efforts
Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, regional governments have been reviewing their disaster plans and enhancing preparations, from boosting buildings' quake resistance to increasing their stockpiles of emergency food and blankets for immediate use.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 2, 2013
Somali pirate trial lay judges felt global duty
The lay judges who sentenced two Somali pirates to 10 years in prison Friday said that while they had initial qualms about a case they considered foreign, they came to believe it was their duty as part of the international community to try the defendants.
JAPAN
Feb 2, 2013
Court hands Somali pirates 10-year term
The Tokyo District Court jails two Somali pirates for 10 years for trying to hijack an oil tanker operated by a Japanese company in the Indian Ocean in 2011.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2013
Schools to close but their songs go on
Music has played an important role in easing the pain of many people in the Tohoku region whose lives were affected by the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 16, 2013
Somali pair admit trying to hijack ship
In the first case prosecuted under Japan's 2009 antipiracy law, two Somali men pleaded guilty Tuesday in Tokyo District Court to charges of boarding and attempting to hijack a Bahamas-registered tanker operated by a Japanese shipping company.
Japan Times
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 14, 2012
Dismayed Tohoku faces first post-3/11 poll
A mere 15 minutes before Azuma Konno, a Democratic Party of Japan candidate running in Sunday's Lower House election, was set to make a stump speech in front of JR Sendai Station last Friday evening, a 7.4-magnitude quake struck deep off Miyagi's shore, flooding one coastal district with 1-meter-high...
JAPAN / EXPLAINER
Dec 11, 2012
Some election campaign rules outdated, quirky
From Hokkaido to Okinawa Prefecture, 1,504 candidates are campaigning for the 480 seats up for grabs in Sunday's Lower House election.
JAPAN / ELECTION 2012
Dec 6, 2012
The undecided to play key role in poll
Terue Ishimura has yet to decide which party she will vote for in the Dec. 16 general election. But one thing is clear — she won't be supporting the ruling Democratic Party of Japan again.
JAPAN
Dec 4, 2012
Double jeopardy practice scrutinized
Two recent high-profile exonerations have reignited calls by defense lawyers to require the full disclosure of evidence, and to let verdicts handed down by lay judges stand.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 19, 2012
Visa overstayers rally in Tokyo for residency permits
A group of foreign residents who have overstayed their visas rallied in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district Sunday to call on the government to grant them special residency permits to remain in Japan and avoid disrupting the lives of their long-settled family members.
JAPAN
Nov 15, 2012
Ex-aides want to be off the hook like Ozawa
Three former aides to Ichiro Ozawa on Wednesday urged the Tokyo High Court to reverse their guilty verdicts over the political money scandal involving the former Democratic Party of Japan president, saying they had no motive to conduct any wrongdoing.
JAPAN
Nov 13, 2012
Ozawa acquittal is upheld in appeal
Former Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa did not conspire with former aides to falsify financial statements in his political funding management body Rikuzankai in 2004 and 2005, the Tokyo High Court ruled Monday, upholding his not-guilty verdict.
JAPAN
Nov 8, 2012
Tokyo High Court finally exonerates Mainali
The Tokyo High Court on Wednesday exonerated Govinda Prasad Mainali, 46, of the 1997 robbery-murder of a 39-year-old Tokyo woman for which he had served 15 years of a life sentence before being freed and deported home to Nepal in June.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2012
Overseas Japanese museums' representatives share ideas in Yokohama
Museums dedicated to the history of Japanese emigrants are increasingly becoming important for their descendants to understand the history of their ancestors as they become integrated in the societies they live in, according to participants of a recent symposium in Yokohama.
JAPAN
Nov 7, 2012
Antinuclear activists denied use of park
A protest march planned for this Sunday in Tokyo to call for the abolishment of nuclear power has been canceled due to the metropolitan government's rejection for the organizer to use Hibiya Park in Chiyoda Ward as a meeting point.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / CLOSE-UP
Oct 7, 2012
Shigesato Itoi shares lots of 'delicious life'
Shigesato Itoi is an established name in the Japanese cultural scene, but what he is known for may differ depending on who you ask.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 15, 2012
Palestinian plight's Tohoku parallels
The civil war in Syria is not only affecting its civilians but also the Palestinian refugees living in exile there, and the situation is deteriorating, the head of a United Nations agency supporting the refugees said during a recent visit to Japan.
JAPAN / ANALYSIS
Apr 27, 2012
Jury out on if inquest system lived up to role
The prolonged trial of former Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa marked the first time a Diet member has been tried after being subjected to mandatory indictment by a panel of ordinary citizens who received authorization to review a case prosecutors gave up on.
Japan braces for more quakes as authorities dismiss doomsday hype
Evacuees from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecuture, arrive at Kagoshima Port on Friday.
Hidden AI prompts in academic papers spark concern about research integrity
Waseda University is one of 14 institutions in eight countries found to have used hidden prompts in research papers.
A prophesied disaster (likely) won’t strike Japan this weekend
A viral manga prediction of a July 5 disaster has gripped Japan with anxiety and triggered an economic impact, but experts warn that while such dates are unreliable, the threat of a massive earthquake remains real. 
Residents of Tokara Islands begin evacuation as seismic swarm continues
Details about evacuations from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecture, is seen written on a whiteboard in the city of Kagoshima on Thursday.
U.S. military apologizes over Okinawa sexual assault case
Col. Neil Owens (right), chief of staff for the 3rd Marine Division, bows in apology at the Okinawa Prefectural Government office in Naha on Thursday.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Flag football facing challenges and opportunities ahead
Japan’s women’s flag football team at the 2025 International Bowl in Los Angeles in June. The sport is enjoying continued growth in the country.
From Hokusai’s Great Wave, shinkansen to One Piece: a cultural treasure box for Lego Japan
Michael Ebbesen, general manager of Lego Japan, says Lego bricks based on Japanese culture have a rich global appeal and are sellable around the world.
With farmed fish, RelationFish swims against the tide in fine dining
Chef Hideaki Matsuo (middle) and the staff of Oseto Suisan Fisheries prepare to check on their sustainably farmed fish.
As Southeast Asia heats up, a Japanese cooling giant sees a major opportunity
An employee of Daikin Cambodia explains the use of different tools during an air conditioner installation training session in Phnom Penh. Daikin is one of Japan’s oldest air conditioning companies, but as Japan’s population falls, the firm is keying in on overseas growth.

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