Tag - japanese-courts

 
Menu
Search
 
July 12, 2026
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

JAPANESE COURTS

Koji Sakahara (center), the eldest son of Hiromu Sakahara, and others attend a news conference at the Shiga Prefectural Government building on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 19, 2026
Man given life sentence likely to be acquitted posthumously
Hiromu Sakahara was convicted of robbery-murder after a liquor shop owner was killed and her safe was stolen in the town of Hino, Shiga Prefecture. He died in 2011.
A lawyer representing the mother (left, blurred for privacy reasons) of a girl who died after being detained speaks during a news conference in Kobe on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 19, 2026
Japanese mother sues state over teen’s ‘hostage justice’ death
The mother of a girl who died from emaciation following detention and alleged interrogations by authorities is seeking compensation, in the latest case of “hostage justice.”
Yudai Togitani speaks to reporters in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, on Thursday after a ruling was handed down on a woman who killed his wife and left his child disabled in a car accident.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 18, 2026
Driver jailed for killing pregnant woman, leaving unborn child with disability
Prosecutors had difficulty interpreting the existing law to regard a fetus as a victim independent from the mother.
Seiichi Katsurada, president of tour boat company Shiretoko Yuransen, at the Kushiro District Court in Hokkaido on Wednesday. Katsurada has been sentenced to five years in prison over a deadly boat sinking in 2022.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 17, 2026
Hokkaido tour boat operator sentenced to five years’ jail over fatal 2022 sinking
Eighteen passengers and two crew members died after a tour boat sank on April 23, 2022, off the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido, with six passengers still unaccounted for.
Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi has asked an advisory panel to consider ways to expand the involvement of crime victims and bereaved families in pretrial proceedings.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 15, 2026
Panel to consider expanding victims’ involvement in criminal proceedings
There is currently no legal provision allowing victims in Japan to participate in or observe pretrial procedures.
The Nagoya District Court has convicted Fumiya Kosemura, a 38-year-old former elementary school teacher, of sharing illicit voyeuristic images of schoolchildren in a private online chat group of teachers.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 15, 2026
Ex-teacher given eight years in prison over voyeuristic images of children
Fumiya Kosemura, 38, secretly photographed girls in underwear at an elementary school in Yokohama and shared the images in a chat group.
The Judicial Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives approves a bill to revise Japan's criminal retrial system on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 12, 2026
Lower House panel approves retrial system reform bill
The bill is expected to clear the Lower House on Tuesday and be enacted during the current Diet session ending in July.
Hideko Hakamata attends a parliamentary session on May 27 to observe deliberations on a Criminal Procedure Code revision bill.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 9, 2026
Sister of ex-death row inmate calls for full disclosure of evidence by prosecutors amid retrial system review
A bill under consideration would limit the scope of evidence disclosure and mandate that the defense not be provided with a list of evidence.
A court ruling will be handed down on June 22 for a woman suspected of killing a 17-year-old girl in Hokkaido in 2024.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 9, 2026
Prosecutors seek 27-year sentence for suspect in murder of Hokkaido girl
Public prosecutors have alleged that Riko Uchida and others “applied some physical force” to the high school girl, who was embroiled in a dispute over social media photos.
A former prosecutor using the pseudonym Hikari, who accused her boss of rape, demands an independent panel to be launched during a protest in Tokyo on May 29.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 7, 2026
Prosecutors across Japan to be surveyed for harassment
The supreme office issued related instructions to local prosecutor offices across the country last month and plans to compile a report by the end of fiscal 2026.
The Nagoya District Court sentenced Shota Suito, a former elementary school teacher, to three years and six months in prison in Japan’s first case involving possession of AI-generated child sexual deepfakes.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 5, 2026
Nagoya court recognizes AI-created explicit images as child pornography
The sentence marked the first case in Japan in which the law has been applied to the possession of AI-generated sexual deepfakes.
The Kyoto District Court in the city of Kyoto heard a complaint Wednesday from a man who says his estranged wife presented someone else's sperm as his and was able to undergo successful fertility treatment using it without his awareness.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 4, 2026
Man sues hospital after wife gives birth using someone else’s sperm
The woman was sentenced in April 2025 for forging the man’s consent form, but the hospital said it gave adequate explanation and that the man’s claims are incorrect.
The Legal Education Support Association was established in January 2023 by lawyer Akihide Kumada and others concerned about the decreasing number of young people wanting to become legal professionals.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 3, 2026
Association champions legal careers through judicial education for students
The Legal Education Support Association was established amid concern about fewer young people wanting to become legal professionals.
Osaka High Court found that the NRA's safety approval for the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the nuclear plant in the town of Oi was reasonable.
JAPAN
May 28, 2026
Osaka High Court backs safety approval for Oi nuclear reactors
The high court found that the NRA’s safety approval for the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the nuclear plant in the town of Oi was reasonable.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responds to questions about the criminal procedure law in parliament on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 26, 2026
Takaichi stresses ‘great significance’ of retrial system reform
The government bill prohibits in principle public prosecutors from filing appeals against court decisions to start retrials.
A popular voice actor has sued TikTok’s operator over videos allegedly using an AI-generated imitation of his voice without permission.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 26, 2026
Actor files lawsuit against TikTok operator over AI-generated voice use
The lawsuit, filed with the Tokyo District Court by Kenjiro Tsuda last November, is believed to be the first of its kind in Japan.
The Tokyo District Court on Monday found two former executives of artificial intelligence developer Alt guilty of window dressing in violation of the financial instruments and exchange law.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 26, 2026
Former execs of AI developer Alt found guilty of window dressing
Katsuya Asai, 46, and Takayuki Ariizumi, 53, were given suspended prison sentences, and the Tokyo-based company was fined ¥300 million.
Riko Uchida is standing trial over the death of a 17-year-old high school girl, who fell from a suspension bridge in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, in 2024.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 25, 2026
Woman accused of murder in Hokkaido girl’s fall from bridge pleads not guilty
Another accused of conspiring in the murder is currently serving a 23-year sentence.
Mamoru Hase, the father of a boy murdered in a series of attacks on elementary schoolchildren in 1997, speaks during an interview in Kobe earlier this month.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 25, 2026
Father still searching for answers 29 years after Kobe child murders
For 70-year-old Mamoru Hase, whose son was one of two elementary schoolchildren killed by a 14-year-old boy in 1997, there is no such thing as closure.
Three defendants are on trial over suspected robbery resulting in death and other offenses in connection with the death of 20-year-old Tomoya Hase.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 25, 2026
Three people plead guilty over fatal 2024 assault of Hokkaido university student
A total of six people have been indicted in the case of suspected robbery resulting in the death of a 20-year-old in Ebetsu, Hokkaido.
China’s demand for Soviet-style apartments shows limits to revival
Apartments built during a Soviet Union-inspired construction drive in the 1970s and 1980s tend to suffer from poor insulation and outdated plumbing, but they are seeing a revival in interest due to their attractive locations.
Japanese scientists identify neural mechanism that may explain why we dislike people
The aggressive mouse (left) used in the experiment and a mouse defending itself
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
Lenders seek $700 million after Japanese payments firm’s collapse
The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ¥115.16 billion, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
Japan’s largest exhibition of women photographers rights a wrong in cultural history
Miwa Yanagi’s “Elevator Girl House” series skewers the superficiality of gender roles through staged images.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
‘Princess Mononoke’ comes alive in Super Kabuki staging
The “Princess Mononoke” adaptation was created under Shochiku’s Super Kabuki initiative, a modern form of kabuki with more technology in staging and open to pop culture collaborations.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.

Podcast

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

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Sompo looks beyond insurance to focus on well-being
Sompo looks beyond insurance to focus on well-being

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER