Japan
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government
- CONSTITUTION
- May 3, 1947
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- based on the German model with Anglo-American influences; review of legislative acts by the Supreme Court
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- bicameral, House of Councillors (Sangi-in) and House of Representatives (Shugi-in)
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- Supreme Court (president appointed by the King on the recommendation of the Government, others appointed by the Government)
RELIGIONS
majority of Buddhists and Shintoists; minorities of Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox
From the country
- JANUARY 1, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
Japanese criminal law envisages the death penalty for 13 different...
Japanese criminal law envisages the death penalty for 13 different crimes but in practice death sentences are only handed down for murder.
- DECEMBER 28, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
JAPANESE MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH IN CHINA ON DRUG SMUGGLING CHARGES
a court in China sentenced a Japanese man to death on drug smuggling charges...
- DECEMBER 26, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING 5 BY LACING WINE LOSES RIGHT TO RETRIAL
the Nagoya High Court, Japan, revoked an earlier decision it made to retry Masaru Okunishi, an 80 year old man sentenced to death for fatally poising five people.
- DECEMBER 26, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPANESE MINISTER VOWS MORE EXECUTIONS
Japan’s justice minister vowed to carry out more executions after the country’s first hangings in over a year, saying the vast majority of the public supported the death penalty.
- DECEMBER 25, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN EXECUTES 4 PRISONERS BY HANGING
four Japanese inmates on death row were hanged, officials and news reports said, the first executions to take place in Japan since September 2005.
- DECEMBER 22, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. DEATH PENALTY UPHELD FOR MURDER
the Tokyo High Court, Japan, upheld a lower court-imposed death sentence on Soji Fujisaki, convicted of robbing and murdering two women in their 70s in January 2005 in Hokota, Ibaraki Prefecture.
- DECEMBER 19, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING 4 PEOPLE
Katsumi Morita was sentenced to death for murdering...
- DECEMBER 15, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF STEPSON'S WIFE AND CHILD
Takemitsu Mori was sentenced to death for murdering a woman and her infant son at their apartment.
- DECEMBER 13, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. JOBLESS MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDER OF SISTERS
Yukio Yamaji, 23, was sentenced to death for robbery, murder and rape by the Osaka District Court for sneaking into the home of a woman and her younger sister and murdering them.
- DECEMBER 5, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. MAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE FOR KILLING 2 WOMEN IN FUKUSHIMA PREF.
the Sendai High Court, Japan, sentenced a 53-year-old man to death for killing a woman and her daughter and stealing some 50,000 yen in cash in Fukushima Prefecture in 2004, scrapping a sentence of life imprisonment imposed by a lower court.
- NOVEMBER 24, 2006South KoreaDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. TOP COURT REJECTS APPEAL AGAINST DEATH SENTENCE FOR SOUTH KOREAN
Japan’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal by a South Korean man sentenced to death for killing two people in 1995 in Aichi and Fukuoka prefectures, a move that will let his death sentence stand.
- NOVEMBER 13, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING 3 WOMEN IN FUKUOKA PREFECTURE
the Fukuoka District Court, Japan, sentenced to death Yasunori Suzuki, 37, for murdering three women in Fukuoka Prefecture.