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July 12, 2026
 

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JAPANESE COURTS

A protester rallies in Nara on Jan. 21 against the life sentence handed down to Tetsuya Yamagami for fatally shooting former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 4, 2026
Assassin of Shinzo Abe files appeal against life sentence
Tetsuya Yamagami reportedly agreed to appeal after strong persuasion from his lawyers.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the appeal of Brennon Washington, a 26-year-old U.S. airman at Kadena Air Base, finalizing his five-year prison sentence for kidnapping and sexually assaulting an underage girl in Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 3, 2026
Japan’s top court rejects U.S. airman’s appeal in Okinawa assault case
The Supreme Court’s decision finalizes the five-year prison sentence for Brennon Washington, a 26-year-old service member at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture.
A meeting of a criminal law subcommittee of the Legislative Council to discuss reforms to the retrial system, at the Justice Ministry on Monday
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 3, 2026
Japan retrial system to retain appeals by prosecutors
The decision by the criminal law subcommittee of the Legislative Council is consistent with a Justice Ministry proposal.
Ryoko Yonekura
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 31, 2026
Japanese actress Ryoko Yonekura not indicted over drug case
The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office did not disclose its reasons for deciding not to indict the 50-year-old celebrity.
A doctor told the Nagoya District Court on Wednesday that Sri Lankan detainee Wishma Sandamali died from a combination of dehydration and starvation. Her family is suing the Japanese government for damages.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 29, 2026
Sri Lankan detainee’s death could have been prevented, doctor testifies
Dr. Masamune Shimo said there were three junctures at which Wishma Sandamali’s life could have been saved before her death at an immigration facility in Japan in 2021.
Defendants in detention in court often remain in handcuffs and waist restraints until judges enter the courtroom, to help prevent escape.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 29, 2026
Japan to reconsider use of handcuffs and ropes for defendants in court
Current rules will still apply if a defendant is considered a flight risk.
Defense lawyers of a 1952 murder case seeking a retrial hold signs reading "unjust decision" on Wednesday in the city of Kumamoto.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 28, 2026
Court rejects retrial request for executed man believed to have had leprosy
It was a rare case in which a retrial was sought for a defendant who had already been executed.
The plaintiffs said the three hibakusha had long been excluded from aid due to a government notice stating they would lose their right to receive related state aid if they leave the country, and therefore had been "forced to live with health problems and anxiety."
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 28, 2026
Court orders government to pay damages to relatives of hibakusha who left Japan
The hibakusha, originally from what is now South Korea, were exposed to radiation in the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima and returned home after the war.
Eiko Kawasaki (center), a plaintiff in a compensation case against North Korea, attends a news conference in Tokyo along with other plaintiffs and lawyers on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 27, 2026
Court holds North Korea liable for ‘paradise on Earth’ program
The Tokyo District Court ruled that four plaintiffs had “most of their lives taken away” by Pyongyang.
The Supreme Court has confirmed a lower court ruling in favor of the state in a damages lawsuit filed by 27 children of hibakusha in Hiroshima.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2026
Top court rejects damages suit by children of Hiroshima hibakusha
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs claimed that the exclusion of hibakusha children from the hibakusha support law was unconstitutional.
Former Kadokawa Chairman Tsuguhiko Kadokawa (center) speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Thursday after a court handed him a suspended jail sentence of two years and six months over bribes linked to sponsorship contracts for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 22, 2026
Former Kadokawa chairman given suspended jail sentence over Olympic graft scandal
Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, 82, was found guilty of bribing a former senior official of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (third from right) bows as she meets with the victims of forced sterilization at the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 22, 2026
Takaichi meets with victims of forced sterilization
The prime minister said the government’s responsibility is “extremely grave” and added that she wanted to make sure everyone received compensation.
Plaintiffs hold up signs in the city of Fukuoka on Tuesday expressing disappointment over the Fukuoka High Court’s decision to dismiss a petition seeking to halt the operations of reactors at the Genkai nuclear power plant.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 22, 2026
High court rejects petition to halt reactors in southwestern Japan
The plaintiffs argued the size of a potential earthquake was underestimated in the calculation of seismic ground motion used for the reactors’ quake-resistant design.
Outside the Nara District Court in the city of Nara ahead of the sentencing of Tetsuya Yamagami, the man behind the July 2022 assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 21, 2026
Shinzo Abe’s assassin gets life sentence
The sentence meted out to Tetsuya Yamagami, who shot the former prime minister in Nara in July 2022, brings an end to the trial for a murder that shocked Japan.
In a draft proposal, the Justice Ministry also called for imposing criminal penalties on the use of disclosed evidence for purposes other than retrial proceedings, though lawyers have in the past been able to provide relief to falsely accused convicts by publicizing new evidence and appealing to the public.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 21, 2026
Japan’s retrial system will likely retain prosecutor appeals, draft proposal shows
The draft not banning public prosecutors from filing appeals comes despite strong calls to abolish the practice, which has been criticized for limiting retrial opportunities.
News reporters gather in front of the Nara District Court on Oct. 28, when the trial of Tetsuya Yamagami, charged with fatally shooting former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, opened.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 20, 2026
Shinzo Abe’s assassin faces verdict
One of the key points in the trial is how the judges will weigh on Tetsuya Yamagami’s troubled upbringing and motivations for fatally shooting the former prime minister.
According to a court ruling, Tomu Fujinuma transported a high school student from Thailand to Myanmar in January 2025 after the boy was kidnapped from Miyagi Prefecture, and forced him to take part in fraud at a scam hub in Myanmar.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 20, 2026
Man found guilty of sending student to Myanmar for fraud
A judge said that transporting the student, including by ship, to a place from which he could not return by himself was “a malicious act.”
The Osaka District Court dismissed a request on Friday by three death-row inmates seeking to have executions by hanging banned.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 16, 2026
Osaka court dismisses request to ban executions by hanging
Three inmates, whose death sentences have been finalized, claimed that executions by hanging violate an international treaty that prohibits cruel punishments.
Police officers and firefighters gather at a site in Tokyo's Suginami Ward where two officials were stabbed on Thursday by a resident subject to a court-ordered eviction.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 16, 2026
One official fatally stabbed during forced eviction in Tokyo
The resident suspected of stabbing two officials, one of whom later died, reportedly told police “I didn’t intend to kill them, but I thought it wouldn’t matter if they died.”
Justice Ministry's Legislative Council discusses a review of the retrial request system last month.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 13, 2026
Retrial requests filed by relatives face difficulties
Cases have been terminated or cut short with no prospects of reapplication because of the aging and death of petitioners.
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’

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