Tag - japanese-courts

 
 

JAPANESE COURTS

Kakizawa was serving his fifth term as a member of the House of Representatives until he stepped down as a lawmaker earlier this month following his indictment.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 14, 2024
Former LDP lawmaker pleads guilty to illegal campaign financing
Mito Kakizawa said he would not contest the charges, which relate to a Tokyo ward mayoral election last April that was won by a candidate he backed.
Yoshikazu Higashitani, who goes by the name GaaSyy, leaves the Tokyo Detention House on Sept. 21 after being released on bail.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 9, 2024
Four-year prison term sought for ex-lawmaker GaaSyy
GaaSyy, whose real name is Yoshikazu Higashitani, is accused of making threats against actor Go Ayano and others in online videos.
Tacaquito Usui (left) smiles at a news conference in Okayama after the Okayama Family Court's Tsuyama Branch recognized his petition to have his gender changed on his family register on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 8, 2024
Court approves gender change for nonsterilized trans man in Japan
Before the top court decision, Japan's law on gender dysphoria stipulated six conditions to register as a different sex.
The burned down house in Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture, where Yuki Endo fatally stabbed the father and mother of an acquaintance in 2021.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 2, 2024
Death sentence finalized for man over 2021 murder committed as minor
The defense team for Yuki Endo filed an appeal at the deadline Thursday, but the defendant withdrew it later in the day, the Kofu District Court said.
Judges at the Kyoto District Court hear a case involving Yoshikazu Okubo, a doctor accused of the consensual killing of a woman with a fatal neurological disease, on Jan. 11. The court is scheduled to deliver its ruling on March 5.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 1, 2024
Prosecutors seek 23 years for Japanese doctor in consensual killing case
They claim the accused had an "interest" in killing the elderly and people with disabilities under the false pretense of medical care.
The family law subcommittee of the Legislative Council, at the Justice Ministry on Tuesday
JAPAN
Jan 30, 2024
Government to submit bill allowing joint custody after divorce
The draft outline calls for a new provision obliging both parents to respect each other, and for divorce negotiations to determine parental authority.
Miyoko Oka holds a photo of her brother, Masaru Okunishi, in Yamazoe Village, Nara Prefecture, in November 2023.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 30, 2024
Top court rejects retrial request for 1961 poisoned wine murders
The court rejected a special appeal for reopening the case involving Masaru Okunishi, who died at age 89 of pneumonia while on death row in 2015.
Zain Syed (left), a Pakistan-born Japanese citizen; Maurice, a U.S. citizen with permanent residency in Japan; and Matthew, a Pacific Islander with permanent residency, outside the Tokyo District Court in Tokyo on Monday
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 29, 2024
Lawsuit filed in Tokyo over alleged racial profiling by police
The plaintiffs are seeking around ¥3 million in damages each from central and local governments in the case, which is the first of its kind.
A courtroom sketch shows Shinji Aoba (center) listening to a ruling handed down at the Kyoto District Court on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 28, 2024
Kyoto Animation arsonist sentenced to death says he 'accepts' verdict
But Shinji Aoba said he had appealed the ruling because "there are a few more things that I want to leave behind as lessons for others."
Bajaku Yoshiwara, a former pupil of "rakugo" storyteller Sanyutei Enka IV, speaks to reporters on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 28, 2024
Rakugo storyteller ordered to pay damages over power harassment
Bajaku Yoshiwara, who was studying the art of traditional Japanese storytelling under Sanyutei Enka IV at the time, sought ¥3 million in compensation.
A courtroom sketch shows Shinji Aoba listening to a ruling handed down at the Kyoto District Court on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 26, 2024
Kyoto Animation arsonist files appeal against death sentence
A Kyoto District Court spokesman on Friday confirmed that the defense team was appealing the ruling.
Jumpei Yasuda (second from left) was taken captive by an armed group for about three years and four months after entering Syria from Turkey for news coverage in 2015.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 26, 2024
Japan's passport denial for ex-captive journalist ruled illegal
The presiding judge ruled that the denial of a passport for Jumpei Yasuda was illegal, as it represented an abuse of the government's discretionary power.
Unfortunately, statistics are not favorable when it comes to mixed marriages. With the proper communication, however, no challenge is insurmountable.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 26, 2024
Know how to talk about divorce in case your relationship goes south
It's a sad fact that more than a few international relationships don't work out in Japan. Be armed with the proper vocabulary just in case.
Has runaway hit Palworld gotten itself into hot water with The Pokemon Company?
LIFE / Digital
Jan 25, 2024
The Pokemon Company to Palworld: ‘We intend to investigate’
“We have not granted any permission for the use of Pokemon intellectual property or assets in that game,” The Pokemon Company said in a statement.
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.

Longform

Historically, kabuki was considered the entertainment of the merchant and peasant classes, a far cry from how it is regarded today.
For Japan's oldest kabuki theater, the show must go on