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
- AUGUST 28, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
A Japanese court sentenced to death Mamoru Takuma,...
A Japanese court sentenced to death Mamoru Takuma, a 39-year-old man who killed eight children after running amok with a butcher's knife in an elementary school in 2001
- AUGUST 28, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and other...
Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and other ministers said that Mamoru Takuma, who murdered eight children and injured 13 others and two teachers in a stabbing frenzy at an Osaka elementary school, deserved the death penalty he was given by the Osa
- JULY 23, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
Nine executive members of the Committee on Judicial...
Nine executive members of the Committee on Judicial Affairs of Japan's lower house of parliament visited a new execution chamber at the Tokyo Detention Centre
- JULY 22, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Asahi Shimbun Liberal Democratic Party (LPD) members...
The Asahi Shimbun Liberal Democratic Party (LPD) members in favor of capital punishment stalled a bill to set up a panel on abolishing the death penalty, before it even reached the Diet
- JULY 8, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Nagoya High Court upheld a lower court ruling sentencing...
The Nagoya High Court upheld a lower court ruling sentencing three men to death, two of whom for murdering three people to get insurance payments or money between 1994 and 1996 and the remaining one for involvement in two of the murders
- JULY 1, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
Daizo Fukushima, a 78 year old Japanese man, was sentenced...
Daizo Fukushima, a 78 year old Japanese man, was sentenced to death by hanging for killing a woman and severely burning her husband after he set fire to their lodge on a chicken farm in 1989
- JUNE 10, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo District Court sentence to death Yoshio Ando,...
The Tokyo District Court sentence to death Yoshio Ando, a homeless man, for murdering three other homeless men in Tokyo in 1999
- MAY 28, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
In its annual report on the global human rights situation...
In its annual report on the global human rights situation for 2002, Amnesty International said the treatment of those on death row in Japan was brutal, inhumane and degrading
- MAY 26, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
Yukiharu Fuchigami, 34, was sentenced to death by the...
Yukiharu Fuchigami, 34, was sentenced to death by the Miyazaki District Court for the 1999 murder of two acquaintances
- MAY 23, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
A group of 122 lawmakers calling for the abolition...
A group of 122 lawmakers calling for the abolition of the death penalty in Japan said they would submit a bill demanding a halt to hangings to the current Diet session in June 2003
- MAY 22, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
Prosecutors demanded that Mamoru Takuma be sentenced...
Prosecutors demanded that Mamoru Takuma be sentenced to death for killing eight primary school children and wounding 15 others at Ikeda Primary School in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, in June 2001
- MAY 21, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
A Japanese court handed down the death penalty to Ryoji...
A Japanese court handed down the death penalty to Ryoji Ui, a 63-year-old man who killed a woman in 2001 while he was on parole