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 1, 2005JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. HIGH COURT REDUCES MAN'S DEATH SENTENCE TO LIFE IN PRISON
the Sendai High Court, Japan, reduced from a death sentence to life in prison the punishment for Kiyoshi Ishii, a man convicted of killing a couple by torching their house in Fukushima Prefecture in 2000, denying he intended to kill.
- AUGUST 31, 2005JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. LAWYERS FOR DOOMSDAY CULT LEADER ON DEATH ROW FAIL TO SUBMIT APPEAL
lawyers for Shoko Asahara, the founder of a doomsday cult which carried out the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, failed to submit a letter appealing against his death penalty by the August 31.
- AUGUST 3, 2005JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. JFBA DELEGATION TO EUROPE TO STUDY IMPACT OF DEATH PENALTY ABOLITION
the Japan Federation of Bar Associations said it would send a delegation to Germany and Britain later in the month to study how abolition of capital punishment had affected the two countries.
- JULY 19, 2005JapanDEATH PENALTY
HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR MAN CONVICTED OF MURDERS
the Tokyo High Court upheld a lower court ruling, which sentenced Toshiaki Kaga, a 44-year-old man, to death for murdering a woman and her daughter and stealing their money.
- JULY 11, 2005JapanDEATH PENALTY
HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH FOR DOG BREEDER FOR KILLING 4 PEOPLE
the Tokyo High Court upheld a March 2001 ruling by the Urawa District Court sentencing to death Gen Sekine, 63, and his former wife Hiroko Kazama, 48, for murdering four people in 1993 following disputes over the sale of dogs.
- JULY 8, 2005JapanDEATH PENALTY
APPEAL BY FIVE-TIME KILLER AGAINST DEATH SENTENCE REJECTED
Japan’s Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Yasutoshi Kamata, a 64-year-old man, against the death sentence for murdering a 9-year-old girl and four women between 1985 and 1994.
- JULY 5, 2005JapanDEATH PENALTY
SUPPORTERS PETITION FOR RETRIAL OF BOXER 25 YEARS ON DEATH ROW
supporters of Iwao Hakamada, a former professional boxer who had been on death row for 25 years handed the Japanese Supreme Court a petition with 2,880 signatures demanding a retrial.
- JUNE 28, 2005JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. HIROSHIMA HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR MAN CONVICTED OF KILLING SPREE
the Hiroshima High Court, Japan, upheld a lower court death sentence handed to Yasuaki Uwabe for killing five people and injuring 10 others when he went on a berserk rampage at JR Shimonoseki Station in 1999.
- JUNE 28, 2005JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. HIGH COURT UPHOLDS SENTENCE FOR HOUSEWIFE IN CURRY MURDERS
the Osaka High Court in western Japan upheld a death sentence against Masumi Hayashi, a 43-year-old housewife, for murdering four people and poisoning 63 others with arsenic-laced curry served at a summer festival.
- JUNE 8, 2005JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. TOP COURT UPHOLDS DEATH PENALTY FOR KILLER OF 4 WOMEN
Japan’s Supreme Court upheld the death sentence given by a lower court to Masakatsu Nishikawa, a man who murdered four female bar managers in western Japan in less than a month in 1991.
- JUNE 7, 2005JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. HUSBAND DEFENDS JAPAN'S 'CURRY KILLER'
Kenji Hayashi, a Japanese man whose wife was sentenced to death for killing four neighbors with arsenic-laced curry -- and once allegedly tried to poison him -- said she should be freed and reunited with their four children.
- JUNE 3, 2005JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. JFBA LAUNCHES SERIES OF PUBLIC HEARINGS ON DEATH PENALTY
the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, the country's largest lawyers' group, had launched a series of public hearings on its proposal to suspend executions while the Diet debated the use of capital punishment.