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
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. JUSTICE MINISTER STILL REFUSES TO SIGN EXECUTION ORDERS
Justice Minister Seiken Sugiura has expressed his unwillingness to give the go-ahead for executions before he steps down on September 26 with the outgoing Cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, according to sources.
- SEPTEMBER 21, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR ROBBING, KILLING TWO IN KUMAMOTO PREF.
the Kumamoto District Court sentenced Yukinori Matsuda to death for robbing and killing two people in Kumamoto Prefecture in 2003. Matsuda, 33, stabbed Keiko Kinoshita...
- SEPTEMBER 21, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
Japan's Supreme Court dismissed a 49-year-old Miyazaki...
Japan's Supreme Court dismissed a 49-year-old Miyazaki woman's appeal against the death penalty for killing and robbing two women of money before abandoning their bodies in the late 1990s.
- SEPTEMBER 15, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. CULT LEADER TO HANG FOR TOKYO SUBWAY ATTACK
Shoko Asahara, a former cult leader who masterminded a poison gas attack on Tokyo subway trains in 1995, had his appeal against the death penalty rejected by Japan's Supreme Court.
- SEPTEMBER 8, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. TOP COURT UPHOLDS DEATH PENALTY ON MAN FOR SLAYING 2 GIRLS IN 1992
Japan's Supreme Court upheld the death penalty given to a man for abducting and murdering two 7-year-old girls in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1992. The top court's five-justice second petty bench rejected an appeal from Michitoshi Kuma, 68, who had claimed inno
- SEPTEMBER 7, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. TOP COURT REJECTS APPEAL OF MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH
Japan’s Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by a man who was sentenced to death for killing a couple in a robbery-murder case in 1997 in Osaka.
- AUGUST 24, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. DOOMSDAY CULT CHEMIST APPEALS DEATH SENTENCE
Masami Tsuchiya, a 41 year old chemist sentenced to death for...
- AUGUST 18, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR EX-AUM SENIOR MEMBER
the Tokyo High Court upheld a lower court's death sentence for former AUM Shinrikyo senior member Masami Tsuchiya for producing nerve gas used in the cult's mass murder of 20 people.
- JUNE 29, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. PSYCHIATRIST BACKS SHOKO ASAHARA
Shoko Asahara, the Aum Supreme Truth founder sentenced to death over a 1995 nerve-gas attack on the Tokyo subway, is mentally unfit and shows no reaction to his children, psychiatrist Haruo Akimoto said.
- JUNE 27, 2006ChinaDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. DEATH SENTENCE FINALISED FOR MAN IN MURDER-ROBBERY CASE
Japan's Supreme Court finalised a death sentence for a Chinese man by upholding a high court ruling on him over a murder-robbery on May 25...
- JUNE 27, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. DEATH SENTENCE FOR HOMELESS MAN COMMUTED TO LIFE
the Tokyo High Court commuted the death penalty of Yoshio Ando to life in prison for the 1999 murders of three homeless men in Tokyo, citing his ''diminished'' mental capacity at the time of the crime due to the influence of amphetamines.
- JUNE 20, 2006JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. SUPREME COURT ASKS FOR DEATH PENALTY FOR YOUNG KILLER
Japan's Supreme Court asked a lower court to consider the death penalty for a man who was a minor when he killed a young mother and baby girl.