Tag - courts​

 
 

COURTS​

A courtroom sketch shows Shinji Aoba at the Kyoto District Court on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 25, 2024
Kyoto Animation arsonist given death penalty over 2019 mass murder
A Kyoto court found Shinji Aoba guilty of setting a studio on fire because of a grudge he held against Kyoto Animation, in one of Japan's deadliest mass murders.
Three plaintiffs are set to file a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday, seeking compensation over claims of racial profiling by police.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 24, 2024
Foreign residents to file landmark suit alleging racial profiling by police
Three men are to file a lawsuit over claims that they have been repeatedly questioned by police because of their ethnicity or appearance.
American President Joe Biden hugs Brittany Alkonis after giving a State of the Union in February. The wife of jailed U.S. sailor Lt. Ridge Alkonis ran a successful pressure campaign to get her husband released from a Japanese prison into American custody. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 24, 2024
Japan owes no apology for U.S. Navy officer’s treatment
The case of Navy Lt. Ridge Alkonis is a divisive one, which both the U.S. and Japanese governments have tried to keep quiet about.
A man prays on July 19, 2019, outside the Kyoto Animation building where 36 people died in a fire caused by Shinji Aoba the previous day.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 24, 2024
Possible death penalty looms for Kyoto Animation arson suspect
The trial shed light on his upbringing, the emergence of his grudge against the studio and how he went ahead with his plan of attack despite some hesitation.
Takahiro Ueda, a professor at Tottori University Hospital and the doctor who oversaw treatment of the Kyoto Animation arson attack defendant Shinji Aoba, has urged Japan to tackle the problem of socially isolated individuals.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 24, 2024
Kyoto arson defendant's doctor calls for ways to resolve social isolation
Since the trial at the Kyoto District Court began in September last year, a picture has emerged of a man who was abused by his father and refused to interact with others.
According to Hitoshi Matsumoto’s lawyer, he is suing Bungei Shunju, the publisher of the Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine over an article that was published in the magazine and online on Dec. 27.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 23, 2024
Comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto sues publisher over sexual assault article
The Downtown member is suing Bungei Shunju, the publisher of the Shukan Bunshun weekly magazine, for defamation.
A woman who filed a suit claiming damages against her father but had her claim dismissed by the Hiroshima High Court in November has said she felt like she was being accused of making a complaint only when time had run out.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / Regional Voices: Hiroshima
Jan 22, 2024
Passage of time gets in the way for victims of child sexual abuse
The woman, in her 40s, deemed it unfair that the perpetrator gets away scot-free because of the statute of limitation.
Journalist Shiori Ito sheds a tear as she speaks to reporters outside the Tokyo district court on Dec. 18, 2019, after hearing the ruling on a damages lawsuit by her, accusing a former TV reporter of rape.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 21, 2024
Japanese journalist brings lonely #MeToo battle to Sundance
Shiori Ito's fight for justice is the subject of "Black Box Diaries," a documentary she herself directed.
The gallery and judges for the trial of Yuki Endo over a 2021 murder case, in Kofu District Court in Yamanashi Prefecture on Thursday
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 18, 2024
In first, 'specified juvenile' handed death sentence over Kofu murder
It is the first time a defendant age 18 or 19 at the time of a crime has been given the death penalty following the lowering of the age of adulthood.
The Supreme Court is considering reviewing a high court judgment that the same-sex partner of a murder victim is ineligible for survivor benefits.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 18, 2024
Supreme Court may review judgement against benefits for same-sex partner
The review would mark the first time the Supreme Court makes a decision regarding the issue of public benefits for a same-sex partner.
The Osaka District Court
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 10, 2024
U.S. livestreamer fined for playing loud music in Osaka restaurant
The streamer has faced criticism for his videos, in which he makes light of the atomic bombings in Japan and makes racist comments about Japanese people.
Tokyo prosecutors raid lawmaker Yasutada Ono's local office in the city of Hashima, Gifu Prefecture, on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 29, 2023
LDP lawmaker's local office raided over funds scandal
The special squad of the Tokyo Public Prosecutor's Office raided lawmaker Yasutada Ono's local office in the city of Hashima, Gifu Prefecture.
Lower House lawmaker Mito Kakizawa (back right) when he was appointed deputy justice minister in September
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 28, 2023
Japanese lawmaker Kakizawa arrested over vote-buying allegations
The former LDP member allegedly gave bribes to assembly members in Tokyo’s Koto Ward to garner support for a candidate in the Koto mayoral election.
Ohkawara Kakohki President Masaaki Okawara speaks to reporters in front of the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday following a ruling ordering the government to pay damages.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 27, 2023
Tokyo court rules executives of spray dryer firm were wrongly indicted
The case involving Ohkawara Kakohki, a Yokohama-based manufacturer, has once again highlighted problems in the nation’s criminal justice system.
Construction work goes on in the Henoko coastal district of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, on Monday, with Oura Bay in the foreground.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2023
Japan to OK base relocation project design change by proxy
The approval of the change application will mark the central government's first-ever proxy execution of a local government administrative task.
Disney characters perform on a float during a parade at Tokyo Disneyland in January.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 26, 2023
Court rejects damages claim by ex-Tokyo Disneyland performer
The former performer said she had suffered work-related injuries and that the company had failed to fulfill its duty of care.
Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities sold Additional Tier 1 notes from Credit Suisse more aggressively than any other firm in Japan, with its sales making up about two-thirds of the notes taken up, which totaled ¥140 billion in value.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 26, 2023
MUFJ securities unit sued again over Credit Suisse AT1 bond losses
Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities sold more than two-thirds of the Additional Tier 1 notes taken up in Japan.
An artist's depiction of Masaaki Osaka as he listened to the judge's verdict on Friday at the Tokyo District Court
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 23, 2023
Leftist gets 20 years for policeman's 1971 murder after 45 years on run
According to the ruling, the man killed the policeman during a protest with students and other activists on Nov. 14, 1971, in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward.
Prosecutors demanded a fine of ¥200,000 for YouTuber Johnny Somali during his trial at the Osaka District Court on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 21, 2023
Japanese prosecutors demand fine for controversial American YouTuber
According to the indictment, Ismael Ramsey Khalid, known as "Johnny Somali," obstructed a restaurant business by taking a video while playing loud music.
A supporter of Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki holds up a sign on Wednesday in front of the Fukuoka District Court's Naha branch saying that the court's ruling — effectively clearing the way for further landfill work to relocate a U.S. base in Okinawa — is "unjust."
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 20, 2023
Court orders Okinawa governor to approve base relocation work
The move by the high court's Naha branch circumvents Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki, who has not approved the plan amid staunch local opposition.

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces