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December 04, 2024
 

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FALSE 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.
Shoshi Maekawa speaks to reporters in Fukui on Monday following a decision by prosecutors to not object to the retrial of his case.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 29, 2024
Ex-convict to get retrial over 1986 murder in central Japan
Prosecutors decided against objecting to the retrial following a detailed examination of the court decision and a comprehensive consideration of evidence.
Shoji Maegawa raises his arms in joy in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Wednesday, following the approval of a retrial over the murder of a Fukui junior high school girl.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 23, 2024
Court orders retrial in 1986 Fukui murder case due to witness coercion
The Nagoya High Court ruling stated that law enforcement agencies, facing investigative roadblocks, likely influenced witness statements.
Shizuoka Prefectural Police Chief Takayoshi Tsuda bows to Iwao Hakamata (second from right), recently exonerated over a 1966 murder, and others on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 21, 2024
Shizuoka police chief apologizes to Iwao Hakamata after his acquittal
Takayoshi Tsuda visited the home of Hakamata, 88, in the city of Hamamatsu, bowing deeply for about two minutes.
Iwao Hakamata (left) gestures beside his older sister, Hideko, at a gathering with supporters on Monday in the city of Shizuoka, his first public appearance since his exoneration over a 1966 murder case.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 15, 2024
Ex-boxer Hakamata set to vote for the first time in decades
Efforts are being made to allow the world's longest-held death row inmate, who has been exonerated over a 1966 murder case, to vote in the Oct. 27 general election.
Iwao Hakamata (center) makes his first public appearance on Monday in the city of Shizuoka after achieving a complete acquittal.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 14, 2024
Hakamata makes first public appearance since acquittal
He received flowers from his supporters and a boxing champion's belt.
Hideko Hakamata (center) holds a portrait and a banner reading "innocent man, not guilty verdict" to support her brother Iwao Hakamata, as she arrives to the Shizuoka District Court on Sept. 26.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 13, 2024
Many acquitted murder suspects initially found guilty for confessions
At least 20 people in 18 cases were found innocent in a retrial after receiving a guilty verdict in the post-World War II period.
Hideko Hakamata (left), the older sister of ex-boxer Iwao Hakamata, and Hideyo Ogawa, an attorney on his defense team, speak at a news conference on Tuesday in the city of Shizuoka, following prosecutors' decision not to file an appeal against the Shizuoka District Court's not-guilty verdict in a retrial of a 1966 murder case against Iwao Hakamata.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 9, 2024
Japan’s ‘hostage justice’ system breeds false convictions, groups say
False convictions will continue to occur unless the system of extracting confessions through prolonged, harsh interrogations is eliminated, human rights groups say.
Iwao Hakamata, together with his sister Hideko, speaks to his supporters on Sept. 29 in the city of Shizuoka after the Shizuoka District Court handed down a not-guilty verdict in a retrial of a 1966 quadruple murder case against him.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 8, 2024
Ex-boxer Iwao Hakamata finally exonerated over 1966 murder case
Prosecutors have decided not to appeal against the Shizuoka District Court's not-guilty verdict at the end of a rare retrial, his lawyers said.
Japan's new justice minister Hideki Makihara says abolishing the death penalty would be "inappropriate."
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 3, 2024
New justice minister says scrapping death penalty 'inappropriate'
Capital punishment has strong public support in Japan, where scrapping it is rarely discussed.
Hideko Hakamata (center) and lawyers representing her younger brother, Iwao Hakamata, pose with a banner that reads "Iwao Hakamata verdict not guilty" as they leave the Shizuoka District Court on Thursday after the ruling was delivered.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 26, 2024
In rare retrial, Shizuoka court rules ex-boxer not guilty of 1966 murders
Iwao Hakamata, the world’s longest-serving death row prisoner, has maintained his innocence for decades.
Iwao Hakamata in March 2023 in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture. Hakamata was convicted in 1968 over the fatal stabbings of a couple and their children two years earlier. He has pleaded his innocence throughout his trial, maintaining that his confession was coerced.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 25, 2024
In Japan, the road to exoneration takes decades
Defense lawyers’ extremely limited access to evidence and prosecutors’ right to appeal a court order for a retrial result in a long, drawn-out process.
There are at least 17 murder retrials in which guilty sentences have been overturned in Japan since the end of World War II, and public prosecutors had appealed court decisions to hold retrials in 12 of the cases, resulting in delays in the completion of the retrials, according to sources.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 14, 2024
70% of murder retrials with acquittals delayed by prosecutors
Retrial decisions where prosecutors didn't appeal to the top court took a short amount of time to finalize.
Supporters of the second retrial request for the so-called Iizuka incident hold up signs in the city of Fukuoka on Wednesday criticizing the Fukuoka District Court's decision to reject it.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 5, 2024
Japan court rejects retrial for 1992 murder of two girls
The defense is set to appeal against the latest decision. So far, no decision has been made in Japan to grant a retrial of a convict already executed.
Iwao Hakamata's older sister Hideko (left) marches to the Shizuoka District Court in the city of Shizuoka on Wednesday for a retrial of her younger brother Iwao, who had been on death row over a 1966 murder case.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2024
Trial ruling date for man accused of 1966 murder set for September
Iwao Hakamata, who in a rare example is being retried over a 1966 murder case, will be given a verdict on Sept. 26.
Ohkawara Kakohki President Masaaki Okawara speaks to reporters in front of the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday following a ruling ordering the government to pay damages.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 27, 2023
Tokyo court rules executives of spray dryer firm were wrongly indicted
The case involving Ohkawara Kakohki, a Yokohama-based manufacturer, has once again highlighted problems in the nation’s criminal justice system.
Japan’s 2024 buzzword of the year urges a reevaluation of past norms
Sadao Abe, who played the role of a time-traveling Showa Era teacher transported to present day in a popular TV drama, receives the 2024 buzzword of the year award for the word "futehodo," the nickname of the series.
Princess Aiko, only child of emperor, turns 23
Princess Aiko on Nov. 22 ahead of her 23rd birthday on Sunday at the Imperial Palace
Ishiba questioned on political reform, social issues and the economy
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks in the Lower House in Tokyo on Monday.
Nearly 90% in Japan and China have negative views of other
Chinese people's sentiment toward Japan is believed to be impacted by their use of social media platforms such as Weibo and Douyin, as well as whether they have visited Japan.
Bear that attacked Akita supermarket employee captured
A brown bear in Hokkaido. In the city of Akita, a bear that attacked a supermarket employee over the weekend was captured in a box trap on Monday morning.
Can Japan's scientific community rebound from a Nobel nosedive?
The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo is a popular place to foster curiosity in the natural sciences.
Europe eyes 'boots on the ground' in Ukraine as possible peace deal option
A serviceman with the Ukrainian Army's 24th mechanized brigade fires a machine gun during an exercise, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the country's Donetsk region on Friday.
Seven strangers and an algorithm: Can this new dinner app help you make friends?
Timeleft uses an algorithm to match its users with five or six strangers in an effort to prompt “human connection” over dinner at a restaurant. It determines the attendees with the help of a simple personality quiz available when you sign up for the service. 
Don’t worry, you can still use your Japan health insurance card — for now
A My Number card reader at a pediatric clinic in Tokyo. While the government will stop issuing new health insurance cards on Monday, most people will remain unaffected by the move in the short term as existing health insurance cards can still be used for another year.
The Geisha bean is the leading lady of Tokyo's coffee scene
Discovered in the 1930s, the Geisha coffee plant came to worldwide fame in the early 2000s and now represents some of the best coffee on the planet — Tokyo's top cafes included.

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One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
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Longform

The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo is a popular place to foster curiosity in the natural sciences.
Can Japan's scientific community rebound from a Nobel nosedive?
By Tomoko Otake

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