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
- MAY 19, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo High Court upheld a death sentence for one...
The Tokyo High Court upheld a death sentence for one of five Aum Supreme Truth members who released sarin nerve gas on Tokyo subway trains
- APRIL 30, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
A man charged with brutally murdering two housewives...
A man charged with brutally murdering two housewives in Yamato, Kanagawa Prefecture, in August and September, 2001, was sentenced to death
- APRIL 24, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
Prosecutors in Japan demanded the death sentence for...
Prosecutors in Japan demanded the death sentence for the leader of the doomsday cult, Aum Supreme Truth
- APRIL 24, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
Japan voted against the resolution on the death penalty...
Japan voted against the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights, in Geneva
- APRIL 23, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo High Court upheld the death sentence for...
The Tokyo High Court upheld the death sentence for Kazuo Shinozawa, a man convicted of burning six women to death during the robbery of a jewellery store in Utsunomiya in June 2000
- MARCH 27, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
Relatives of victims of gas attacks carried out by...
Relatives of victims of gas attacks carried out by Japan's Aum Supreme Truth cult vented their anger at the trial of cult guru Shoko Asahara and demanded the death sentence for him
- MARCH 12, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Nagoya High Court in Japan upheld a lower court...
The Nagoya High Court in Japan upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced two men to death for murdering two women by burning them alive inside oil barrels
- MARCH 10, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
A convict on death row, who is asserting his innocence...
A convict on death row, who is asserting his innocence and seeking a retrial, met his lawyers for the first time in nearly 12 years at the Tokyo detention house
- FEBRUARY 24, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Utsunomiya District Court in Japan sentenced former...
The Utsunomiya District Court in Japan sentenced former senior crime syndicate member Ryoji Goto, 44, to death for killing a woman in Utsunomiya by injecting her with narcotics and for murdering a man by throwing him into a river in Mito
- FEBRUARY 12, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
Mitsuhiro Kobayashi, 44, was sentenced to death by...
Mitsuhiro Kobayashi, 44, was sentenced to death by the Aomori District Court for setting fire to a branch office of Takefuji, a major consumer credit firm, which killed five staff members during an attempted robbery in May 2001
- FEBRUARY 7, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
A Tokyo District Court ruled that the Tokyo Detention...
A Tokyo District Court ruled that the Tokyo Detention House must allow Toshiaki Masunaga, 54, a death-row inmate, to purchase a book even though he had exceeded his allowed limit of possessions
- FEBRUARY 4, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
Shizuka Kamei, head of the Diet Members' League for...
Shizuka Kamei, head of the Diet Members' League for the Abolition of the Death Penalty, said he would submit to the current Diet session a bill calling for the introduction of life imprisonment without parole, adding that it would be a milestone in the ab