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July 12, 2026
 

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JAPANESE COURTS

A building housing the Tokyo High Court in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2026
Bus operators found guilty again over 2016 crash in Karuizawa
The ski tour bus crash in the Nagano Prefecture town killed 15 people, mainly university students, and injured 26 others.
Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings' headquarters in Tokyo
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2026
Tepco employees recorded civil trials in violation of court rules
On the same day, Shikoku Electric Power and Chugoku Electric Power also admitted to making audio recordings in the courtroom.
The Tokyo headquarters of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, more commonly known as the Unification Church, in August 2022
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 21, 2026
Unification Church liquidator begins accepting claims
The losses claims will be accepted until May 20 next year, with eligible claimants including followers, former followers of the group and their family members.
Lawyer Hidetoshi Masunaga (left) criticizes the ruling handed down by the Fukuoka High Court in Fukuoka on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 20, 2026
Two courts find February’s Lower House election constitutional
The lawyers who filed the lawsuits claimed that the maximum vote-value disparity of 2.10 times in the election failed to meet the equal value of votes under the Constitution.
Tokyo Detention House guidelines dictate that CCTV surveillance can be used when detainees are at risk of suicide or self-harm, or when there is concern they may try to escape.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
May 20, 2026
Female death row inmate sues Japan government over 24/7 surveillance
A death-row inmate says she’s been surveilled 24/7 for 24 years. Now, she’s suing the Japanese government for a breach of human rights.
A Cabinet meeting on Friday that approved a revised bill on the retrial system
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 15, 2026
Cabinet approves revision of controversial retrial system
Critics of Japan’s retrial system have said prosecutors’ right to appeal is prolonging the court procedures needed for those seeking a retrial, with it sometimes taking decades.
Even a slight brush with the law can be enough to cause reputational damage for public figures.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
May 15, 2026
How Japanese grammar captures the gap between legal outcomes and public judgment
Using “monono” and “ni mo kakawarazu” to explore contradictions between expectations and outcomes in Japanese.
Keisuke Suzuki, who heads a Liberal Democratic Party panel on the judicial system, speaks during a party meeting on retrial revisions on Wednesday at the party's headquarters in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
May 14, 2026
LDP approves government proposal to revise retrial system
The approval paves the way for the revision — a top priority for the government — to be submitted to the current parliamentary session.
Judge Akifumi Morimoto is suspected of accessing an online casino site more than 60,000 times and engaging in gambling from April to September 2023.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 14, 2026
Japan’s top court seeks judge’s dismissal over his suspected online gambling
The Akita District Public Prosecutors Office indicted the judge on suspicion of accessing an online casino site more than 60,000 times and gambling from April to September 2023.
The Osaka High Court in the city of Osaka. While the court did not order specific action in the case of a person seeking a nonbinary gender designation in Japan's family register system, it said that the lack of legal recognition infringes on Article 14 of the Constitution.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 13, 2026
High court finds exclusion of nonbinary gender option in family register system unconstitutional
Gender identity is “directly linked to an individual’s personal existence, making it a significant legal good,” the court has said in its judgment.
Masako Suzuki (right) and Sosuke Seki, members of the plaintiff's legal team, speak to reporters Tuesday at the Tokyo District Court's press club.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 12, 2026
Tokyo court rejects refugee’s bid for naturalization over limited Japanese skills
The case highlighted the unclear criteria foreign residents face when wanting to become a naturalized citizen in Japan, with the plaintiff’s lawyers calling it a “black box.”
Starting later this month, participants in civil lawsuits can submit complaints and allegations electronically rather than on paper.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 10, 2026
Japan civil suit procedures to go fully digital May 21
When a third party wants to view a case record, the party will be able to check the record using dedicated terminals.
Members of the Hokkaido Ainu Association place returned remains in a cemetery at the national Ainu cultural facility and perform a memorial service on Friday in Shiraoi, Hokkaido.
JAPAN
May 9, 2026
Ainu indigenous group demands return of ancestors’ remains
The group filed a lawsuit demanding that the remains of 279 Ainu ancestors held by a state facility be returned to their descendants.
Hideko Hakamata (right), the elder sister of Iwao Hakamata who was acquitted of a 1966 murder, attends a rally in Tokyo on April 18 to oppose the Justice Ministry's bill to revise the retrial system, which would continue to allow public prosecutors to appeal decisions to start a retrial.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 5, 2026
Growing number of critical views expressed online over proposed retrial reforms
Many social media users took interest in the topic after the draft bill to revise the code drew severe objections — even angry outbursts — from some lawmakers.
Shoshi Maekawa speaks to reporters Tuesday in the city of Fukui after filing a compensation claim at the Fukui District Court over the time he spent under detention following his conviction over a 1986 murder. He was acquitted in a retrial in August 2025.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 29, 2026
Man acquitted over 1986 murder seeks state compensation
Shoshi Maekawa, 60, was acquitted in a retrial in August 2025.
A Japanese prosecutor, who uses the pseudonym Hikari, speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on March 31. Hikari alleges she was raped by her former boss, the former head of the Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 28, 2026
Prosecutor who accused boss of rape to resign after request for probe rejected
Very few women in Japan speak out about sexual assault, but the prosecutor came forward in 2024 to accuse Osaka’s then-top prosecutor of raping her six years earlier.
Japan's Zoom asked Zoom Video Communications to stop using the logo for the videoconferencing service in April 2020.
BUSINESS
Apr 24, 2026
Zoom ordered to pay damages for violating Japan firm’s trademark
In handing down the ruling, the presiding judge acknowledged that the two companies’ logos were similar in appearance and name.
Bereaved families lay flowers at a memorial ceremony marking the fourth anniversary of the sinking of a sightseeing boat off the Shiretoko Peninsula, on Thursday in the town of Shari, Hokkaido.
JAPAN
Apr 24, 2026
Victims of Hokkaido tour boat sinking remembered 4 years after
The 2022 accident involving the Kazu I boat in the Shiretoko Peninsula killed 20 people and left six others missing.
Plaintiffs head to the Oita District Court on Thursday ahead of the ruling in a lawsuit over whether unmanned stations operated by JR Kyushu violate the freedom of movement of people with disabilities.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 24, 2026
Oita court rules unmanned stations don’t curb freedom of those with disabilities
The lawsuit was the first in Japan to take up the issue of whether such station operations constitute discrimination against people with disabilities.
Hideko Hakamata, of former death-row inmate Iwao Hakamata, speaks during a gathering in Tokyo in June to call for a revision of Japan's retrial system.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 24, 2026
Former death-row inmate’s sister further denounces Japan’s review of retrial system
Hideko Hakamata says she opposes the draft government bill, which seeks to ban the use of evidence disclosed during court proceedings on retrial petitions for any other purpose.
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
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