The atmosphere of heated argument lingers ghostlike within a restored prewar courtroom of the Yokohama District Court, where 12 chairs for the jury face those of the prosecution and defense.
The art deco courtroom, now located in the campus museum of the private Yokohama academic institution Toin Gakuen, is one of two remaining jury galleries in Japan. The Yokohama District Court was the venue for 36 jury trials between 1928 and 1943 under a short-lived and limited jury system.
"This courtroom is one of the few remaining witnesses to the jury system in Japan and thus has historical and academic importance," a spokesman for the Toin Gakuen Memorial Academium said. Toin Gakuen inherited the courtroom after the district court underwent renovation in 1997.