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August 08, 2025
 

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JAPANESE COURTS

Hisaaki Ikeuchi (right), chief of Shiga Prefectural Police department, bows in apology to former nurse Mika Nishiyama (left) during their meeting in Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 7, 2025
Shiga police chief apologizes to ex-assistant nurse acquitted after prison term
The apology came after a local court ruled that the prefectural police's investigation was illegal.
Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Koichi Hagiuda
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 4, 2025
Summary indictment eyed for secretary of LDP's Koichi Hagiuda
A panel of citizens ruled that the secretary of Hagiuda, a member of the House of Representatives, should be prosecuted.
Shoshi Maekawa (left) celebrates in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, on July 18 after a high court acquitted him of a 1986 murder of a junior high school girl.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 1, 2025
Man's acquittal over 1986 murder of Fukui junior high school girl finalized
Prosecutors have decided not to appeal against the acquittal of Shoshi Maekawa, now 60, whose retrial was granted years after he had served time for the crime.
A Tokyo court has upheld a lower court ruling ordering Dentsu to pay a fine for rigging Olympic-related bids.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 31, 2025
Tokyo court upholds fine of ¥300 million for Dentsu in Olympic bid-rigging case
The high court also upheld a ruling that sentenced the former assistant head of the sports department of Dentsu to two years in prison, suspended for four years.
AI developer Alt, which recently disclosed accounting irregularities, has filed for bankruptcy protection under the civil rehabilitation law at the Tokyo District Court.
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2025
Japanese AI developer Alt goes bust after accounting fraud
Suspicions of accounting fraud surfaced at the company in April this year.
Storage tanks containing treated water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture in March 2021.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 30, 2025
Tepco ordered to pay ¥100 million in damages over 2011 disaster
Presiding Judge Masahiko Abe ordered the payment mainly as compensation for damage to property and consolation money.
The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday sentenced Tomohiro Koyama, who is believed to be the third-highest-ranking member of the "JP Dragon" crime ring, to three years and six months in prison for fraud.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 29, 2025
Senior 'JP Dragon' crime ring member jailed for 42 months
Tomohiro Koyama, 51, is believed to be the third-highest-ranking member of the ring comprising Japanese nationals.
A Justice Ministry expert panel called for expanding the scope of cases subject to video and audio recordings of suspect interrogations, on Thursday at the ministry.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 25, 2025
Panel calls for expanding interrogation recordings
Mandatory recordings of law-enforcement authorities' interrogations were introduced in 2019.
Tomonobu Kojima arrives at Tokyo's Haneda Airport in February 2023 after being deported from the Philippines.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 23, 2025
Senior member of 'Luffy' crime ring gets 20 years in prison
Tomonobu Kojima, 47, was the first of the four indicted members of the group, whose members went by the nickname "Luffy," to receive a court ruling.
Lawyers enter the Osaka High Court to file a lawsuit on Tuesday to nullify the results in six electoral districts, including Kyoto, Osaka and Hyogo, of Sunday's House of Councillors election, claiming that the election was unconstitutional in terms of vote-value disparities.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 22, 2025
Lawyers file lawsuit to nullify Upper House election
The lawyers argued that the apportionment provisions for Upper House seats did not meet the constitutional requirement of population-based proportional representation.
Trevor Hill, former head of equity at SMBC Nikko Securities, arrives at the Tokyo District Court in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 22, 2025
Former SMBC Nikko managers found guilty in market manipulation case
When the allegations of market manipulation surfaced in early 2022, they shone a spotlight on Japan’s financial sector and led to regulatory penalties against the brokerage.
Shoshi Maekawa (center) and his supporters enter the Kanazawa branch of the Nagoya High Court in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 18, 2025
Man acquitted in retrial over 1986 murder of school girl
Shoshi Maekawa was previously found guilty and served a prison sentence.
Members of a former nurse’s legal team hold up a sign reading “Victory against the prefecture” after the Otsu District Court ruled in their favor on Thursday. 
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 18, 2025
Shiga government ordered to compensate ex-assistant nurse acquitted of murder
The plaintiff side argued the police officers who were in charge of investigating the former assistant nurse intentionally led her to make a false confession.
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 15, 2025
23-year sentence sought for senior member of 'Luffy' crime ring
"The cases have led to many copycat crimes, and the defendant should be punished severely," prosecutors stressed.
The Osaka District Court ordered the man to have his son appear at a hearing, but the man failed to bring him on all three designated dates.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 11, 2025
Osaka man detained for three weeks under human protection law
It is rare for a person to be detained under the human protection law, which has no clause on a specific period for such detentions, said an expert on Japan's family laws.
Tetsuro Kamata (second from left), deputy superintendent-general of Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department, and Hirohide Mori (left), head of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office's public security division, apologize to former Ohkawara Kakohki executive Junji Shimada (second from right) and company President Masaaki Okawara on June 20 in Yokohama.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jul 10, 2025
Improper law-enforcement interrogations persist in Japan
The Japan Federation of Bar Associations has emphasized the urgent need for further reforms in interrogation procedures.
Tomoya Asanuma, a man who endured almost four months of detention for charges he was ultimately acquitted of in January, poses for a picture at his apartment in Tokyo in May.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 10, 2025
Trial challenging Japan's 'hostage justice' opens
Campaigners argue that lengthy pretrial detention is meted out too easily in Japan, especially if suspects remain silent or refuse to confess.
Mourners pay their respects to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday in the city of Nara where he was shot to death while giving a stump speech three years ago.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / EXPLAINER
Jul 8, 2025
Three years after Abe's shooting, where do things stand?
The criminal trial against the alleged shooter is proceeding at a snail's pace due to the sensitivity, complexity and social impact of the case.
Col. Neil Owens (right), chief of staff for the 3rd Marine Division, bows in apology at the Okinawa Prefectural Government office in Naha on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 4, 2025
U.S. military apologizes over Okinawa sexual assault case
This is the first direct apology from the U.S. military to the Okinawa Prefectural Government for a series of sexual crimes committed by U.S. servicemen in the prefecture.
Tomonobu Kojima, admitted his involvement in the "Luffy" cases at the first hearing of his trial at Tokyo District Court on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 2, 2025
Senior member of 'Luffy' crime ring pleads guilty at hearing
Tomonobu Kojima, 47, said, "There is no mistake" regarding his charges of aiding robberies and committing fraud.
How Pakistan shot down India's cutting-edge fighter using Chinese gear
An Indian Air Force pilot gets out of a Rafale fighter jet during its induction ceremony at an air force station in Ambala, India, September 2020.
Trump: The $550 billion pledged by Japan is 'our money'
U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday. He told CNBC that investment pledges are like signing bonuses.
The United States imposes 15% 'reciprocal' tariff on most Japanese goods
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the White House on Wednesday.
Japan's inheritance tax is high, unforgiving and sometimes avoidable
The National Tax Agency at the Ministry of Finance, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. Japanese tax authorities can bill foreign residents in Japan for assets inherited globally.
Photographer Bleg Bayraktar is winning social media with politeness
A video on Bayraktar's Instagram account of the Belgian photographer approaching an elderly worker in Tokyo's Shibuya has gone viral, garnering almost 9 million views.
Japan's inheritance tax is high, unforgiving and sometimes avoidable
The National Tax Agency at the Ministry of Finance, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo. Japanese tax authorities can bill foreign residents in Japan for assets inherited globally.
Photographer Bleg Bayraktar is winning social media with politeness
A video on Bayraktar's Instagram account of the Belgian photographer approaching an elderly worker in Tokyo's Shibuya has gone viral, garnering almost 9 million views.
Australia announces new warships will come from Japan
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami-class frigate Niyodo sails at an undisclosed location in this image released Tuesday.
Fuji Rock's weekend of surprises was one of its best yet
Radwimps lead singer Yojiro Noda threw himself into the rock band’s Green Stage performance ahead of headliner Vampire Weekend.
How Trump is gaslighting on climate change — with Japan’s help
The Bishu Maru LNG tanker, owned by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, next to the Freeport LNG terminal in Texas

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

A mushroom cloud from the atomic bombing on Hiroshima taken from a U.S. military aircraft on Aug. 6, 1945. Copying the photo without permission is prohibited.
80 years on, a Japanese American hibakusha recalls the day the bomb dropped
By Elizabeth Beattie

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