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August 13, 2026
 

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JAPANESE PRISONS

Japan's first prison-turned-hotel, Hoshinoya Nara Prison offers as much luxury as it does surprisingly thoughtful reflections on the former facility's place in the country's march toward modernity.
LIFE / Travel
Aug 8, 2026
Locked up in luxury at the new Hoshinoya Nara Prison hotel
Open from July, the lodging occupying an Important Cultural Property prompts guests to reflect on societal progress and the role of prisons.
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
JAPAN / Society / FOCUS
Jun 30, 2026
Life inside Â鶹´«Ã½ largest prison for women
Tochigi Prison, which houses 456 inmates, is a microcosm of what female prisons across the nation are facing, from a rising foreign population to mental health issues.
Masami Ishizaka of the Sendai Probation Office (right) listens to a volunteer probation officer from Sendai about her activities during a meeting at the office in March.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Jun 22, 2026
Miyagi volunteer probation officers seek sustainable rehabilitation system
Japan is relying heavily on volunteer probation officers to support rehabilitation, but aging, shortages and safety fears are putting growing strain on the system.
A prison officer in charge of education speaks to inmates at Osaka Prison in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on Feb. 26. A portion of the image is blurred for privacy reasons.
JAPAN / Society
Jun 1, 2026
Osaka Prison helps rehabilitate inmates with developmental disabilities
Prisoners with development disorders at Osaka Prison receive education and guidance focusing on facilitating self-understanding and improving cooperative behavior.
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.
Do Van Tuan shows some of the Vietnamese books he took with him to the Sendai Detention House in Sendai in December.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Tohoku
Mar 9, 2026
The Vietnamese interpreter who sends his imprisoned countrymen books
Do Van Tuan, 45, hopes that through books, detainees might be able to make good use of their time while under detention to build a better future.
Nobuko Nishizawa, sister of a psychosomatic clinic director who was killed in an arson attack in 2021, speaks with an inmate in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, in July.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 16, 2025
Four years on, Osaka arson victim¡¯s sister helps to rehabilitate inmates
A journalist once asked Nobuko Nishizawa what could have been done to prevent the 2019 deadly arson on Kyoto Animation, prompting her to begin providing rehabilitation support.
The mother of a deceased male inmate of a juvenile detention facility who filed a lawsuit over the medical treatment he had received while detained speaks during a news conference in Tokyo Thursday following a ruling ordering the state to pay damages.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 31, 2025
Tokyo court orders state to pay damages following inmate¡¯s death
The dispute centered on whether a medical exam conducted in January 2020 at the juvenile detention branch had been appropriate given the man was later diagnosed with cancer.
The Tokyo District Court building. The court ordered the government to pay damages over verbal abuse by prison guards against an inmate at Nagoya Prison.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 20, 2025
Government ordered to pay damages for verbal abuse of inmate
The ruling came after the bereaved family of the inmate sued the government for some ?40 million, accusing it of failing to offer proper medical treatment to him.
A security officer stands guard at an entrance gate to the Ministry of Justice in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 20, 2025
Japan requires prison officers to display ID numbers on uniforms
Officers are required to display their numbers above the rank badges on the right chest of their uniforms so that inmates can identify them.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki speaks to reporters in Tokyo on Friday. Suzuki said preparations for the changes that will focus more on rehabilitation are being actively made at each correctional facility.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Jun 5, 2025
Â鶹´«Ã½ prison reform focuses on rehabilitation
Prison labor is no longer mandatory, which allows more time for educational and rehabilitative programs aimed at reducing recidivism.
Former inmates work as trainees in the forestry industry in Nara Prefecture under the prefecture's fully funded rehabilitation program.
JAPAN / Society
May 20, 2025
Nara initiative offers second chances to former prison inmates
Since 2020, nine people have participated in a first-of-its-kind reintegration program, with job training, housing and life skills classes.
Along with running a commissary located outside a prison, Shinji Kaneko (Ryuhei Maruyama) carries out requests on behalf of detainees and their families in ¡°Kaneko¡¯s Commissary.¡±
CULTURE / Film
May 15, 2025
¡®Kaneko¡¯s Commissary¡¯ explores prison culture from the outside in
First-time director Go Furukawa¡¯s heartfelt film stands out from the genre crowd for its informed examination of how the prison complex operates.
With the June 1 reform of imprisonment penalties, Japan will shift the main objective of imprisonment from punishment to preventing repeat offenses.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 5, 2025
Japanese prisons prepare for imprisonment penalty reform
Japan will shift the main objective of imprisonment from punishment to preventing repeat offenses.
Death row inmate Chisako Kakehi, who was convicted of murdering three elderly men between 2012 and 2013 with the intent of inheriting their assets, has died, local media reported Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 26, 2024
Chisako Kakehi, sentenced to death for cyanide murders, dies in custody
The 78-year-old death row inmate was convicted of murdering three men ¡ª her husband and two common-law spouses ¡ª to inherit their assets.
Kozo Iizuka (center) takes part in an investigation of the site of an April 2019 car crash in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district that he was involved in, in June the same year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 25, 2024
93-year-old inmate imprisoned over fatal Tokyo car crash dies
Kozo Iizuka died while serving a five-year term for negligent driving that caused the deaths of a woman and her young daughter in Ikebukuro in April 2019.
Since inmates with mental disabilities often repeat similar offenses after a short period of time ¡ª partly due to a lack of necessary support ¡ª increased help from staffers with specialized knowledge is becoming crucial.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 18, 2024
Ministry ramps up support for prisoners with mental disabilities in Japan
One of the main targets is to reduce the recidivism rate, which tends to be higher for prisoners with mental and developmental disabilities.
Hyogo Prefectural Police investigators call on people at a station in Kakogawa, Hyogo Prefecture, on Oct. 16 to provide information related to the 2007 murder of a girl in the city.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Nov 6, 2024
Inmate hints at involvement in murder of another girl in western Japan
Hyogo Prefectural Police plan to arrest the man soon on suspicion of attempted murder in another case.
Experts of a Justice Ministry panel hold a meeting in Tokyo in June to discuss revision of the probation officer system.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 16, 2024
Justice Ministry to consider public recruitment of volunteer probation officers
The officers regularly meet with individuals released from prison, including those on parole, offering guidance on life and employment support.
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.
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
¡®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.
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.
Severe tropical storm Chan-hom makes landfall near Tokyo
Severe Tropical Storm Chan-hom made landfall around Ibaraki Prefecture, near Tokyo, on Tuesday night.
What Â鶹´«Ã½ language rules for permanent residency should look like
Potential health care workers hoping to find work in Japan take Japanese language instruction in Jakarta. Not all applicants for permanent residency should be expected to reach this level of proficiency.
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.
Â鶹´«Ã½ brewers experiment with a secret ingredient: music
At Smoke Craft, a craft beer brewery in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, music isn't just a background to the brewing process ¡ª it's an ingredient.
As countries ban social media for children, Japan mulls a different approach
Data from NTT Docomo¡¯s Mobile Society Research Institute released in June found that 55% of respondents across all age groups said they fiddled with their phones when they had nothing to do, even when another person was in front of them.

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