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March 29, 2025
 

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IWAO HAKAMATA

Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks at a news conference earlier this month at the Justice Ministry in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 29, 2025
Japan justice minister calls for probe into 'unopenable' retrial system
The move comes after the acquittal of the world's longest-serving death row prisoner last year heightened scrutiny of the system.
Iwao Hakamata, a wrongfully convicted death-row inmate who was acquitted last year through a retrial, and his sister Hideko after a news conference in Tokyo in November 2019. Hakamata won compensation from Japan this week.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Mar 27, 2025
Ex-judge fights Japan's 'unopenable door' retrial system
Hiroaki Murayama wants Japan's outdated retrial system to be fixed so that there will "be no more (Iwao) Hakamatas."
A lawyer for ex-boxer Iwao Hakamata speaks at a news conference at the Shizuoka Prefectural Government office on Tuesday. The Shizuoka District Court has awarded Hakamata, who was acquitted of a 1966 murder case in a retrial last year, some ¥217 million ($1.44 million) in compensation for being unjustly detained for over 47 years.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 25, 2025
Hakamata gets ¥217M in compensation after acquittal in 1966 murder case
The amount is the biggest such compensation granted in the country, according to the lawyers of ex-boxer Iwao Hakamata, who spent over 47 years in detention.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks during an news conference on Friday at the National Diet.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 14, 2025
Advisory panel to review Japan's retrial system
Retrial provisions in the Code of Criminal Procedure have not been revised since it was established in 1948.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks during a news conference at the Justice Ministry in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 7, 2025
Japan's retrial system to be reviewed after landmark acquittal
The system — so time-consuming that campaigners call it the "door that never opens" — has not been changed since 1949.
Hideko Hakamata (second from left), Iwao Hakamata's sister, in the city of Shizuoka on Sept. 26 following a Shizuoka District Court retrial verdict finding Iwao Hakamata not guilty
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 30, 2025
Hakamata seeks ¥217 million in state compensation after acquittal
Under the criminal compensation law, those found not guilty in a retrial can claim compensation of up to ¥12,500 per day.
Iwao Hakamata (left) speaks to his supporters along with his sister Hideko in the city of Shizuoka on Sept. 29 after he was acquitted by the Shizuoka District Court.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 27, 2024
Top prosecutors office finds investigation of Hakamata insufficient
Iwao Hakamata was acquitted this year in his retrial for the murder of four people in 1966.
Hideko Hakamata (second from left), Iwao Hakamata's sister, in the city of Shizuoka on Sept. 26 following a Shizuoka District Court retrial verdict finding Iwao not guilty
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 23, 2024
Momentum builds for reforming Japan's retrial system
Prolonged proceedings for retrial pleas are common in Japan.
Iwao Hakamata (right) and his sister Hideko attend a news conference on Nov. 29
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2024
Sister of ex-death row inmate Iwao Hakamata wins human rights award
The Tokyo Bar Association said it recognized Hideko Hakamata's decadeslong efforts to save her brother and her work to eradicate wrongful convictions.
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.
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.
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 (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.
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.
Japan considers all possible options as Trump threatens new auto tariffs
Subaru cars awaiting export at a port in Yokohama on Thursday.
Massive quake kills at least 150 in Myanmar and Thailand
Medical workers treat a earthquake survivor on a bed in the compound of a hospital in Naypyitaw on Friday, after an earthquake in central Myanmar.
Tokyo police seek public's help on Setagaya family murder 24 years ago
Police seek information from the public on a high-profile murder case, in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, on Saturday
Student suicides in Japan hit all-time high
A volunteer handles an incoming call at the Tokyo Befrienders call center, a suicide hotline center in Japan's capital.
Copyright questions loom as ChatGPT's Ghibli-style images go viral
A screenshot of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's Ghibli-style profile picture on X
Recent spate of wildfires in Japan and South Korea linked to climate change
Smoke and flames rise from a wildfire in Andong, South Korea, on Tuesday.
Hanami season to have record ¥1.39 trillion economic impact on Japan
Cherry blossoms along a road in Tokyo on Tuesday. The 2025 cherry blossom season is expected to have an economic impact of around ¥1.39 trillion on Japan.
Tokyo Series proves to be big business for MLB — and Japanese companies
An advertisement featuring Shohei Ohtani in Tokyo.
New SDF command will be key for contingency planning, Australian commander says
A Maritime Self-Defense Force SH-60K "Super Auk" from JS Shiranui prepares to land on HMAS Brisbane during Exercise Malabar 2023 while off the coast of New South Wales, Australia.
Japanese wages likely to rise more than 5% again this year
Wages are set for another big increase this year as annual negotiations secure generous agreements.

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