Tag - courts

 
 

COURTS

Masahiro Nimura’s “Mommy” features interviews with family members of Masumi Hayashi (right), who was convicted of killing four people and poisoning over 60 others with arsenic-laced curry.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2024
‘Mommy’: A flawed but fascinating dive into a notorious murder case
Masahiro Nimura’s documentary raises reasonable doubts about a crime that gripped the nation over 20 years ago.
Kagoshima District Court has given a former Kagoshima Prefectural Police officer a suspended sentence for leaking investigative information.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 6, 2024
Former Kagoshima police officer found guilty of leaking investigation details
The judge said that the magnitude of the privacy violation was large as the officer shared information on personal criminal records and details of more than 100 cases.
Justice Minister Ryuji Koizumi meets with victims of forced sterilization at the ministry in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 2, 2024
Victims of forced sterilization seek ¥15 million in compensation
Under a now-defunct eugenics law, the government allowed doctors to perform nonconsensual sterilization surgery and abortion on those with disabilities.
Forced sterilization plaintiff Sumiko Nishi at her home in Hino, western Tokyo, on Wednesday
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 31, 2024
First settlement reached for forced sterilization plaintiff in Japan
The state has agreed to pay ¥16.5 million — the same amount awarded to plaintiffs in a related Supreme Court case.
An expert panel discusses the creation of a database for all civil court rulings, on Monday in Tokyo.
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2024
Japan expert panel calls for database of all civil court rulings
The ministry plans to submit a related bill during next year's ordinary session of parliament, with a view to launching the database in fiscal 2026.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meets with plaintiffs of damages lawsuits over forced sterilizations at the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 19, 2024
Full settlement likely for forced sterilization suits in Japan
A total of 39 people have so far sued the government at 12 district courts and branches for damages over forced sterilizations under the law.
Artwork is displayed in the home of Mikiko Watanabe, who was killed in an arson attack at a Kyoto Animation studio in 2019, in Shiga Prefecture on June 11.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2024
Mother of Kyoto Animation arson victim continuing to deliver lectures
Tatsuko Watanabe's 35-year-old daughter Mikiko was an art director at the anime company.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida receives a petition from victims of forced sterilization on Wednesday at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 17, 2024
Kishida apologizes to victims of forced sterilization
The apology from the prime minister follows a Supreme Court ruling earlier this month declaring that the now-defunct eugenics law was unconstitutional.
The plaintiff, who is in her 50s, is suing the government, contending that the gender dysphoria law is unconstitutional because it violates Article 13 of the Constitution, which protects an individual's right to pursue happiness.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 16, 2024
Trans woman challenges marital status condition for legal gender change
The plaintiff, who has been married since 2015, argues that the legal requirement for one to be unmarried in order to change one's gender is unconstitutional.
The Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture. Brennon Washington, a 25-year-old U.S. Air Force serviceman based at Kadena, on Friday pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and sexually assaulting a minor.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 12, 2024
U.S. serviceman in Okinawa pleads not guilty to sexual assault
Brennon Washington, who is stationed at the Kadena Air Base, said he did not kidnap or assault an underage girl in December.
A plaintiff in a damages lawsuit regarding the Unification Church's alleged illegal solicitation of donations holds a news conference in Tokyo following a Supreme Court ruling on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 12, 2024
Ruling in favor of Unification Church overturned by Japan's top court
A case related to the group’s controversial donation collection activities has been sent back to the high court.
The Tokyo District Court has ordered advertising agency Hakuhodo to pay ¥200 million in fines for violating the antimonopoly law in a bid-rigging case linked to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 11, 2024
Hakuhodo ordered to pay ¥200 million over Tokyo Games bid-rigging
The firm is the first to receive a court ruling over a high-profile series of cases linked to the Olympics and Paralympics.
Plaintiffs in a series of lawsuits over forced sterilization and their lawyers hold banners that read "victory ruling," after the Supreme Court ruled in their favor in Tokyo on July 3.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 10, 2024
Amid discrimination, Japan's eugenics missteps could be repeated, expert warns
After a landmark ruling that finally declared Japan's defunct eugenics law unconstitutional, some may ask how Japanese society openly endorsed eugenics.
A Japanese high court decision on Wednesday touched on the contentious issue of whether transgender people need to undergo surgery in order to have their gender changed in official records.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 10, 2024
Japan high court backs gender status change without surgery
The development is likely to put more pressure on the government to revise the contentious 2003 law on gender dysphoria.
An 81-year-old man using the pseudonym Saburo Kita speaks during a hearing of plaintiffs in lawsuits over forced sterilizations, held by a cross-party group of lawmakers in the parliament building on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 10, 2024
Japanese lawmaker group hears from forced sterilization victims
Three people, including two plaintiffs who underwent forced sterilizations, attended the hearing by the cross-party group.
The date for Tetsuya Yamagami's first hearing of a trial for his murder case against former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has not yet been set.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 9, 2024
Two years on: Trial date for Abe's accused shooter still not set
Pretrial proceedings are still underway at Nara District Court.
A man from North Africa (right) embraces his lawyer after a verdict was handed down by the Osaka District Court revoking a decision by immigration authorities not to grant him refugee status, in Osaka on Thursday.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 4, 2024
Osaka court recognizes gay African man as refugee
The court concluded that the plaintiff had been nearly killed by his family and could be harmed if he returns home.
The Shizuoka District Court on Thursday handed down a prison sentence to the former head of a kindergarten-nursery facility over the death of a girl from heatstroke after being left on the school's bus in 2022.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 4, 2024
Ex-nursery head gets prison term over girl's heatstroke death
The suffering of the girl, who died after being left on a bus in temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius, is "unimaginable," a judge said.
A team of lawyers representing bereaved families of victims of the 2022 sightseeing tour boat accident off Hokkaido heads to the Sapporo District Court in Sapporo to file a lawsuit on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 4, 2024
Bereaved families sue operator over Hokkaido boat accident
The 29 family members of 14 passengers of the sunken boat are seeking ¥1.5 billion ($9.2 million) in damages from the boat operator and its president.
Plaintiffs of a series of lawsuits on forced sterilization and their lawyers hold banners saying "victory ruling" after the Supreme Court ruled in their favor in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 3, 2024
Japan's top court orders compensation for forced sterilization victims
The landmark ruling was made on the basis that the now-defunct eugenics law was unconstitutional.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’