The Supreme Court acquittal in June of a nightclub owner indicted for unlawfully allowing customers to dance at the venue had special significance for a member of the defense team.
Before becoming a lawyer, Motonobu Ishigaki was a member of a world-renowned break-dancing team. His first-ever public break-dancing performance had taken place at Noon, the Osaka nightclub at the center of the case.
Ishigaki, 37, first came across break dancing as a law student at Ritsumeikan University in 1998. Captivated with the art form, he joined Ichigeki, then one of the leading break-dancing teams in the Kansai region, when he was a third-year student, and regularly practiced in front of Kyoto Station with other members.