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August 14, 2026
 

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FALSE CONVICTIONS

Makoto Saito (left) ¡ª co-head of the legal team representing the family of Koki Miyata, a man who was acquitted of a 1985 murder after a retrial in 2019 ¡ª speaks during a news conference after a ruling by the Fukuoka High Court on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 28, 2026
Kumamoto ordered to pay damages over wrongful conviction in 1985 murder case
The Kumamoto Prefectural Police investigation of the case was ruled unlawful as it was conducted with the aim of extracting a confession from the suspect who was acquitted in 2019.
A bill to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure was enacted at an Upper House plenary session on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 17, 2026
Â鶹´«Ã½ parliament passes bill to revise retrial system
The revised code will prohibit prosecutors from appealing court orders to initiate retrials in principle, while some exceptions will be allowed on sufficient grounds.
The Judicial Affairs Committee of the House of Councilors holds a hearing on a bill to revise the retrial system under the Code of Criminal Procedure, at the Diet building in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 26, 2026
Expert witnesses demand amendment to retrial reform bill
The bill to revise the Code of Criminal Procedure limits the scope of evidence that courts may order public prosecutors to submit to that related to an appeal for retrials.
Koji Sakahara (center), the eldest son of Hiromu Sakahara, and others attend a news conference at the Shiga Prefectural Government building on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 19, 2026
Man given life sentence likely to be acquitted posthumously
Hiromu Sakahara was convicted of robbery-murder after a liquor shop owner was killed and her safe was stolen in the town of Hino, Shiga Prefecture. He died in 2011.
The Judicial Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives approves a bill to revise Japan's criminal retrial system on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 12, 2026
Lower House panel approves retrial system reform bill
The bill is expected to clear the Lower House on Tuesday and be enacted during the current Diet session ending in July.
Hideko Hakamata attends a parliamentary session on May 27 to observe deliberations on a Criminal Procedure Code revision bill.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 9, 2026
Sister of ex-death row inmate calls for full disclosure of evidence by prosecutors amid retrial system review
A bill under consideration would limit the scope of evidence disclosure and mandate that the defense not be provided with a list of evidence.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi responds to questions about the criminal procedure law in parliament on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
May 26, 2026
Takaichi stresses ¡®great significance¡¯ of retrial system reform
The government bill prohibits in principle public prosecutors from filing appeals against court decisions to start retrials.
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 Â鶹´«Ã½ retrial system have said prosecutors¡¯ right to appeal is prolonging the court procedures needed for those seeking a retrial, with it sometimes taking decades.
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 a top priority for the government ¡ª to be submitted to the current parliamentary session.
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 ¡ª even angry outbursts ¡ª 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.
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 Â鶹´«Ã½ 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.
Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Tomomi Inada (second from left) attends a party panel meeting on revising Japan's retrial system at the party's headquarters on April 15.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Apr 22, 2026
LDP and Justice Ministry remain divided over how to revise retrial system
One key issue at the heart of the impasse in revising the retrial system has been whether to allow prosecutors to appeal a court decision to reopen a case.
Hideko Hakamata (front, second from left) and others participate in a protest against the proposed revision of Japan's retrial system, in Tokyo on Saturday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2026
Former death row inmate¡¯s sister slams Â鶹´«Ã½ retrial review plan
Iwao Hakamata¡¯s elder sister called for public prosecutors to be barred from appealing court decisions granting retrials.
Ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers have asked the Justice Ministry to amend a bill aimed at revising Â鶹´«Ã½ retrial system.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 16, 2026
LDP members demand rewrite of bill to revise retrial system
The bill proposes a one-year limit on court proceedings initiated by prosecutors¡¯ appeal against a retrial ruling, but party members want such appeals banned entirely.
The government is set to delay the submission to parliament of a bill aimed at amending the country's retrial system.
JAPAN
Apr 9, 2026
Government to delay submission of retrial system reform bill
The move came as the government sees the need to take more time for coordination.
Hiroyuki Kuzuno, professor at Aoyama Gakuin University (left), and other legal experts on retrials hold a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 7, 2026
142 retrial experts blast Japanese government panel proposal
The Legislative Council proposal, which would maintain the right of the prosecution to appeal retrial orders, is saddled with ¡°serious problems,¡± the group said.
The National Diet building in Tokyo. Some members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are opposed to a bill to reform the retrial system that the government is considering submitting.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 4, 2026
Many LDP members oppose retrial system reform bill
Many argued that retrial appeals by prosecutors should be banned, saying such appeals impede relief for wrongful convictions.
Ronda Payne (center), the mother of Christopher Payne, an American man convicted of sexual assault in Japan, speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 6, 2026
American man found guilty of sexual assault fights ruling over DNA evidence
A Tokyo High Court ruling in December said his conviction was based on insufficient evidence and sent his case back to the district court.
Hirotsugu Sakahara (left), Hiromu Sakahara¡¯s eldest son, shakes hands with Hideko Hakamata, an older sister of a former defendant who received a not-guilty verdict in a retrial, after they learned that Sakahara¡¯s father case would be reopened, on Tuesday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 25, 2026
Top court grants retrial for deceased inmate over 1984 murder in Shiga
The decision makes it the first case in recent history in which a retrial was granted for a deceased inmate.
Forty-five meters down, a diver races to record a fleeting moment of WWII history
Kingo Wakasa photographs the kamikaze plane wing section he discovered at the USS Emmons wreck site.
New ¡®Katsu Curry Index¡¯ aims to show how weak the yen really is
A CoCo Ichibanya curry house in Tokyo.
Mexican man arrested over attempt to smuggle some 200 lizards into Japan
Mexican alligator lizards seized by Tokyo Customs from a Mexican man who attempted to smuggle them into Japan on Saturday through Haneda Airport
Gut bacteria may be behind many of Â鶹´«Ã½ colorectal cancer cases
A Japanese research team found that a toxin produced by certain E. coli strains, colibactin, caused genetic mutations in nearly half of colorectal cancer cases studied
She is Russia¡¯s richest woman. Her business empire is going up in flames.
Tatyana Kim, the head and co-founder of Wildberries, speaks about Ukrainian drone attacks on the company's warehouses in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, at an unidentified location, in this still image from a handout video released on July 31.
Forty-five meters down, a diver races to record a fleeting moment of WWII history
Kingo Wakasa photographs the kamikaze plane wing section he discovered at the USS Emmons wreck site.
Ikarigata closer to emulating older brother Fujinokawa than many think
The future Fujinokawa (third from left) and Ikarigata (right) compete against each other at ages 5 and 3, respectively.
Where do foreign residents in Japan want to die?
The Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery is one of the few cemeteries in Japan that allows burials, albeit with conditions for the deceased, including foreign nationality and permanent residency in Kanagawa Prefecture.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
As Â鶹´«Ã½ concrete jungles sizzle, urban forestry offers an all-natural fix
People and birds find relief from the sun in Tokyo's Nakano Ward earlier this month. While experts agree that urban greening is crucial to mitigating the impact of climate change, trees are becoming even more scarce in Japanese cities.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Â鶹´«Ã½ earthquake readiness
By Alex K.T. Martin

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