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 9, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court of Japan upheld the death sentence...
The Supreme Court of Japan upheld the death sentence of a man convicted of murdering and robbing two people in separate incidents in Shiga Prefecture 15 years ago
- SEPTEMBER 1, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
Iwao Hakamada, 68, former professional boxer on death...
Iwao Hakamada, 68, former professional boxer on death row, filed an appeal for a retrial with the Japanese Supreme Court after the Tokyo High Court rejected his request on August 27
- SEPTEMBER 1, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
Keishi Nago, a 34-year-old man who was sentenced to...
Keishi Nago, a 34-year-old man who was sentenced to death by the Kagoshima District Court on June 18 for murdering his brother Hirofumi, 44, Hirofumi's wife Kazumi, 40, and their daughter Chihiro, 17, on Tokunoshima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, in August
- AUGUST 31, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
Masumi Hayashi, given the death sentence for murdering...
Masumi Hayashi, given the death sentence for murdering four people with poisoned curry in 1998 in Wakayama, said she decided to end her silence in court because she had never expected to face such a sentence
- AUGUST 27, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo High Court rejected a plea for a retrial...
The Tokyo High Court rejected a plea for a retrial by Iwao Hakamada, a former professional boxer who had been on death row for 36 years for the 1966 murder of a family of four in Shizuoka Prefecture, upholding a lower court decision to reject the request
- AUGUST 27, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
In their closing argument at the Hiroshima District...
In their closing argument at the Hiroshima District Court, Japan, prosecutors pushed for the death penalty for Kiyotaka Oyama, 43, saying he ''planned how to spend insurance money even before the death of his stepfather, which is disgustingly inhumane
- JULY 28, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
A Japanese court upheld death sentences against two...
A Japanese court upheld death sentences against two Aum Supreme Truth cult members for spreading deadly Sarin nerve gas in the Tokyo subway in 1995, killing 12 people
- JULY 6, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo High Court upheld a lower court ruling that...
The Tokyo High Court upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced former gangster Ryoji Goto to death for killing two people in two separate cases
- JUNE 27, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
People who had had experience dealing with death row...
People who had had experience dealing with death row inmates told a symposium in Tokyo that they believed such criminals could be rehabilitated
- JUNE 25, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
Japan's Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that...
Japan's Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced three men to death for the kidnapping of three people and murder of two of them between 1986 and 1991
- JUNE 18, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Kagoshima District Court, Japan, sentenced Keishi...
The Kagoshima District Court, Japan, sentenced Keishi Nago to death for stabbing to death his sister-in-law and her daughter and seriously injuring her son in 2002
- JUNE 18, 2004JapanDEATH PENALTY
Masumi Hayashi, facing the death sentence for murdering...
Masumi Hayashi, facing the death sentence for murdering four people with poisoned curry at a 1998 community festival in Wakayama, denied the charges in an appeal hearing, breaking more than five years of silence