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April 26, 2025
 

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FALSE CONVICTIONS

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 Diet on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2025
Japan to start discussions on reviewing retrial system Monday
A government advisory panel will start discussions Monday to review the country's retrial system for criminal cases in which guilty verdicts have become final, Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki said Friday.
The Tokyo Detention Center in the capital's Katsushika Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 13, 2025
Death penalty under renewed scrutiny in Japan
The punishment has broad public support in Japan, despite international criticism over how it is carried out.
A 37-year-old son of death-row inmate Masumi Hayashi, who goes by the pseudonym of Koji Hayashi, stands in front of the land of the family's previous house in January.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 2, 2025
Family fights for death-row retrial under Japan's 'snail-paced' system
Japan's current retrial system is often labeled the "unopenable door" because the chances of being granted a legal do-over are so slim.
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.
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Hiroaki Murayama wants Japan's outdated retrial system to be fixed so that there will "be no more (Iwao) Hakamatas."
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.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks during an news conference on Friday at the National Diet.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 14, 2025
Advisory panel to review Japan's retrial system
Retrial provisions in the Code of Criminal Procedure have not been revised since it was established in 1948.
Shoshi Maekawa (center) speaks during a news conference in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Thursday following the opening of his retrial.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 7, 2025
Retrial ruling set for July 18 over 1986 murder in Fukui
In a hearing at the Kanazawa branch of the Nagoya High Court, Shoshi Maekawa said he was innocent of the junior high school student's murder.
Former death row inmate Iwao Hakamata (left) and his sister, Hideko, attend a gathering of his supporters after his acquittal in a retrial over a 1966 murder case was finalized in October last year.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 22, 2025
Over 80% of Japanese say death penalty system is 'unavoidable'
The Cabinet Office survey, which is conducted every five years, found that 16.5% of respondents believe the death penalty should be abolished.
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.
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.
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.
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 (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.
Takahiro Imanishi (center), who was acquitted in an appeal trial, smiles during a news conference in the city of Osaka on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 29, 2024
Osaka court acquits man of fatally injuring 2-year-old daughter
Takahiro Imanishi was originally charged in 2018 with assaulting his adopted daughter in 2017, leading to her death from an acute subdural hematoma.
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.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi comments on use of the death penalty at a news conference at the Prime Minister's Office on Nov. 14.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 27, 2024
Two years pass since Japan's last execution, amid calls for abolition
Between 2012 and 2021, the average period from the finalization of a death sentence to its execution was about seven years and nine months.
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.
Shizuo Aishima's son next to a photo of his father in March. Aishima was one of the executives of spray-dryer Ohkawara Kakohki arrested on charges of illegal exporting in 2020. The charges were later dropped by prosecutors.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 21, 2024
Ohkawara investigators referred to prosecutors over falsified documents
Executives at Ohkawara Kakohki were arrested in 2020 on suspicion of illegally exporting chemical machinery, but the charges were later dropped.
Naked man’s rampage in Saitama linked to one fatality and 10 injured
Police believe Daisuke Nishimura may have been involved in roughly 20 incidents in the 90 minutes leading up to his arrest, including a fatal hit-and-run and multiple assaults.
Japan set to fine cyclists on the spot for rule violations from 2026
Under new rules, those who use smartphones while riding a bicycle would be subject to the maximum fine of ¥12,000.
Japan brings forward deadline for electronic travel authorization system
Japan is planning to implement by March 2029 a new online screening system in which foreign visitors who don’t need a visa apply for a certification before entering the country.
Built in a flash, Osaka Expo pavilions wrestle with sustainability
Kengo Kuma & Associates oversaw the construction of the Malaysia pavilion, which is encased in interwoven rows of bamboo that appear to ripple.
Social media helps fuel growing 'sex tourism' in Japan
People walk down a street in the red-light entertainment area of Kabukicho in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on March 31.
Amid uncertain tariffs, is now the time to buy a new iPhone?
An Apple store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in September. Prices for the newest iPhone models start at around ¥100,000 ($700) in Japan.
Built in a flash, Osaka Expo pavilions wrestle with sustainability
Kengo Kuma & Associates oversaw the construction of the Malaysia pavilion, which is encased in interwoven rows of bamboo that appear to ripple.
Japan weighs using U.S. rice imports as tariff negotiation tool with Trump
A restaurant owner pours California-grown Calrose rice into a rice cooker at his restaurant in Tokyo
Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday
Crow meat, goat tartare: Mauvaise Herbe raises its game
Crow meat, shaped into a ball and attached to a foot of the bird, is one of the peculiar offerings of game at Mauvaise Herbe.

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