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November 14, 2025
 

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JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Mar 24, 2023

Iwao Hakamata: The former pro-boxer fighting for exoneration, with help from his sister

The day of his arrest forever changed the course of Hakamata's life, but it was also the beginning of a long, drawn out fight for exoneration.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 13, 2023

Tokyo High Court orders retrial in 1966 Iwao Hakamata murder case

After nearly six decades, 10 court decisions and more than 30 years on death row, the court on Monday ordered a retrial for the 87-year-old convicted murderer and former pro-boxer.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 20, 2023

Tokyo prosecutors decide not to appeal Iwao Hakamata retrial decision

The case will now be sent to the Shizuoka District Court, with a high possibility that Hakamata will be exonerated over murders in 1966.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 17, 2023

Prosecutors to challenge decision to reopen Iwao Hakamata murder case

The Tokyo High Court decided to reopen the case after the Supreme Court canceled the high court's previous ruling rejecting the retrial plea by Iwao Hakamata.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 6, 2023

Tokyo High Court to decide whether to reopen Iwao Hakamata murder case

The decision on whether to reopen the high-profile 1966 Shizuoka Prefecture murder case will come on March 13, defense lawyers in the case have said.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 10, 2023

Shizuoka prosecutors to push for guilty verdict in Hakamata retrial

Prosecutors have said they plan to argue that the March retrial decision by the Tokyo High Court was “groundless.”
Iwao Hakamata, together with his sister Hideko, speaks to his supporters on Sept. 29 in the city of Shizuoka after the Shizuoka District Court handed down a not-guilty verdict in a retrial of a 1966 quadruple murder case against him.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 8, 2024

Ex-boxer Iwao Hakamata finally exonerated over 1966 murder case

Prosecutors have decided not to appeal against the Shizuoka District Court's not-guilty verdict at the end of a rare retrial, his lawyers said.
Shizuoka Prefectural Police Chief Takayoshi Tsuda bows to Iwao Hakamata (second from right), recently exonerated over a 1966 murder, and others on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 21, 2024

Shizuoka police chief apologizes to Iwao Hakamata after his acquittal

Takayoshi Tsuda visited the home of Hakamata, 88, in the city of Hamamatsu, bowing deeply for about two minutes.
Iwao Hakamata at his home in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, in October. The former boxer was acquitted of a 1966 quadruple murder in September after a retrial.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 21, 2024

Chief prosecutor in central Japan to apologize in person to Iwao Hakamata

The head of the Shizuoka District Public Prosecutor's Office is expected to meet the former boxer recently acquitted of a quadruple murder over his lengthy legal battle.
Iwao Hakamata's legal team and others head to the Shizuoka District Court on Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 9, 2025

Former death row inmate Iwao Hakamata files damages suit against government

Hakamata, 89, sought some ¥600 million in damages, a record amount against the government in a suit over a retrial case.
Iwao Hakamata (left) gestures beside his older sister, Hideko, at a gathering with supporters on Monday in the city of Shizuoka, his first public appearance since his exoneration over a 1966 murder case.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 15, 2024

Ex-boxer Hakamata set to vote for the first time in decades

Efforts are being made to allow the world's longest-held death row inmate, who has been exonerated over a 1966 murder case, to vote in the Oct. 27 general election.
Iwao Hakamata (right) and his sister Hideko attend a news conference on Nov. 29
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2024

Sister of ex-death row inmate Iwao Hakamata wins human rights award

The Tokyo Bar Association said it recognized Hideko Hakamata's decadeslong efforts to save her brother and her work to eradicate wrongful convictions.
Iwao Hakamata (left) speaks to his supporters along with his sister Hideko in the city of Shizuoka on Sept. 29 after he was acquitted by the Shizuoka District Court.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 27, 2024

Top prosecutors office finds investigation of Hakamata insufficient

Iwao Hakamata was acquitted this year in his retrial for the murder of four people in 1966.
Hideo Yamada (left), head of the Shizuoka District Public Prosecutor's Office, apologizes to former death row inmate Iwao Hakamata (second from right) at his home in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 27, 2024

Shizuoka prosecutor apologizes to Hakamata following his acquittal

The Shizuoka District Court acquitted Iwao Hakamata last September, ruling that investigating authorities had fabricated evidence in the 1966 murder case.
Hideko Hakamata (second from left), the sister of ex-boxer Iwao Hakamata, in the city of Shizuoka on Sept. 26 following a Shizuoka District Court's verdict finding him not guilty of a 1966 murder case. Lawyers for Iwao Hakamata plan to sue the central and prefectural governments for damages in August.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 3, 2025

Hakamata to sue central, prefectural governments in August

Lawyers for the ex-boxer — who was acquitted of a 1966 murder case last year — plan to file the lawsuits on Aug. 18, the date he was arrested 59 years ago.
Hideko Hakamata (second from left), Iwao Hakamata's sister, in the city of Shizuoka on Sept. 26 following a Shizuoka District Court retrial verdict finding Iwao Hakamata not guilty
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 30, 2025

Hakamata seeks ¥217 million in state compensation after acquittal

Under the criminal compensation law, those found not guilty in a retrial can claim compensation of up to ¥12,500 per day.
A lawyer for ex-boxer Iwao Hakamata speaks at a news conference at the Shizuoka Prefectural Government office on Tuesday. The Shizuoka District Court has awarded Hakamata, who was acquitted of a 1966 murder case in a retrial last year, some ¥217 million ($1.44 million) in compensation for being unjustly detained for over 47 years.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 25, 2025

Hakamata gets ¥217M in compensation after acquittal in 1966 murder case

The amount is the biggest such compensation granted in the country, according to the lawyers of ex-boxer Iwao Hakamata, who spent over 47 years in detention.
Hideko Hakamata, sister of Iwao Hakamata, after his retrial reached a not-guilty verdict in September 2024 in the city of Shizuoka.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 19, 2025

Hakamata, acquitted after 47-year jail term, to seek ¥600 million in damages

Lawyers for Iwao Hakamata said the damages claim covers lost income during his time in custody and care expenses after his release.
Iwao Hakamata (center) makes his first public appearance on Monday in the city of Shizuoka after achieving a complete acquittal.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 14, 2024

Hakamata makes first public appearance since acquittal

He received flowers from his supporters and a boxing champion's belt.
Hideko Hakamata (center) and lawyers representing her younger brother, Iwao Hakamata, pose with a banner that reads "Iwao Hakamata verdict not guilty" as they leave the Shizuoka District Court on Thursday after the ruling was delivered.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 26, 2024

In rare retrial, Shizuoka court rules ex-boxer not guilty of 1966 murders

Iwao Hakamata, the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner, has maintained his innocence for decades.
Iwao Hakamata's older sister Hideko (left) marches to the Shizuoka District Court in the city of Shizuoka on Wednesday for a retrial of her younger brother Iwao, who had been on death row over a 1966 murder case.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2024

Trial ruling date for man accused of 1966 murder set for September

Iwao Hakamata, who in a rare example is being retried over a 1966 murder case, will be given a verdict on Sept. 26.
Iwao Hakamata in March 2023 in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture. Hakamata was convicted in 1968 over the fatal stabbings of a couple and their children two years earlier. He has pleaded his innocence throughout his trial, maintaining that his confession was coerced.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 25, 2024

In Japan, the road to exoneration takes decades

Defense lawyers’ extremely limited access to evidence and prosecutors’ right to appeal a court order for a retrial result in a long, drawn-out process.
Hideko Hakamata (second from left), Iwao Hakamata's sister, in the city of Shizuoka on Sept. 26 following a Shizuoka District Court retrial verdict finding Iwao not guilty
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 23, 2024

Momentum builds for reforming Japan's retrial system

Prolonged proceedings for retrial pleas are common in Japan.
Iwao Hakamata, a wrongfully convicted death-row inmate who was acquitted last year through a retrial, and his sister Hideko after a news conference in Tokyo in November 2019. Hakamata won compensation from Japan this week.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Mar 27, 2025

Ex-judge fights Japan's 'unopenable door' retrial system

Hiroaki Murayama wants Japan's outdated retrial system to be fixed so that there will "be no more (Iwao) Hakamatas."
Hideko Hakamata (left), the older sister of ex-boxer Iwao Hakamata, and Hideyo Ogawa, an attorney on his defense team, speak at a news conference on Tuesday in the city of Shizuoka, following prosecutors' decision not to file an appeal against the Shizuoka District Court's not-guilty verdict in a retrial of a 1966 murder case against Iwao Hakamata.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 9, 2024

Japan’s ‘hostage justice’ system breeds false convictions, groups say

False convictions will continue to occur unless the system of extracting confessions through prolonged, harsh interrogations is eliminated, human rights groups say.
Japan's new justice minister Hideki Makihara says abolishing the death penalty would be "inappropriate."
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 3, 2024

New justice minister says scrapping death penalty 'inappropriate'

Capital punishment has strong public support in Japan, where scrapping it is rarely discussed.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks at a news conference earlier this month at the Justice Ministry in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 29, 2025

Japan justice minister calls for probe into 'unopenable' retrial system

The move comes after the acquittal of the world's longest-serving death row prisoner last year heightened scrutiny of the system.
The first meeting of a subcommittee under the Legislative Council to discuss a review of the retrial system on Monday at the Justice Ministry
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 22, 2025

Panel agrees on need to revise retrial system

Public calls for a review of the retrial system, which has not been revised since the country's criminal procedure law was established in 1948, have been growing.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks during a news conference at the Justice Ministry in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 7, 2025

Japan's retrial system to be reviewed after landmark acquittal

The system — so time-consuming that campaigners call it the "door that never opens" — has not been changed since 1949.
From France to Mali, a deportee's struggle far from home
Moussa Sacko, a Malian deported from France — where he had lived since he was a young child — stands on a street in Bamako, Mali, in December. Compared with his home in France, Bamako feels like a different planet, Sacko said.
Descendants in Philippines denied Japanese citizenship
What would a ‘backup capital’ look like for Japan?
The Japan Innovation Party has long sought to get Osaka designated as Japan's backup capital.
Chinese national sentenced for hit-and-run that injured four children in Saitama
A Saitama district court sentenced Deng Hongpeng, a Chinese national and demolition worker, to two years and six months in prison, suspended for four years, for hitting a group of elementary school children with his car and fleeing the scene while driving under the influence.
As attacks surge, who can cull bears in Japan?
Police cars leave the Akita Prefectural Police headquarters to cull bears, in the city of Akita on Thursday.
Japan fully enters sports streaming era as fans face new dilemmas
Sports fan Tadashi Yokoyama streams basketball and fencing on three screens.
Tatsuya Nakadai: A masterful leading man and postwar icon
Tatsuya Nakadai had the look of a leading man in his youth, but his large and searching eyes suggested the pain and loneliness of an old soul.
As Japan’s female leader rises, can she cross sumo’s sacred line?
Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku (front center) delivers a speech on the first day of the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center on Sunday. Centuries of belief and tradition still underpin the all-male association's stance of excluding women.
Takaichi doesn’t mince words on Taiwan, but dramatic policy shift unlikely
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responds to questions during a House of Representatives Budget Committee session in parliament on Tuesday.
Florist Nicolai Bergmann flourishes outside the box
Florist Nicolai Bergmann shops for fresh flowers at the Ota flower market in Tokyo on Friday.

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