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
- JANUARY 31, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Nagasaki District Court sentenced a woman and her...
The Nagasaki District Court sentenced a woman and her lover to death for killing her husband and son in 1992 and 1998 in order to obtain life insurance money
- JANUARY 24, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Miyazaki District Court in southern Japan sentenced...
The Miyazaki District Court in southern Japan sentenced to death Yasutoshi Matsuda, 34
- JANUARY 1, 2003JapanDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is provided for by the Criminal Procedure...
The death penalty is provided for by the Criminal Procedure Law and by the Penal Code for a number of offenses (13) but, in practice, it is applied only for murder
- DECEMBER 20, 2002JapanDEATH PENALTY
A bipartisan group of Japanese lawmakers opposed to...
A bipartisan group of Japanese lawmakers opposed to capital punishment asked Justice Minister Mayumi Moriyama to impose a moratorium on capital punishment for the duration of the Diet recess, the lawmakers said
- DECEMBER 18, 2002JapanDEATH PENALTY
Kunihiko Hamakawa, 42, was sentenced to death by the...
Kunihiko Hamakawa, 42, was sentenced to death by the Tsu District Court for murdering two men and stealing approximately 12 million yen in Mie Prefecture in 1994
- DECEMBER 11, 2002JapanDEATH PENALTY
Japanese mass murderer Masumi Hayashi, who shocked...
Japanese mass murderer Masumi Hayashi, who shocked the nation when she killed four people and sickened 63 by poisoning curry served at a local festival in 1998, must be hanged, a court in Wakayama ruled
- DECEMBER 2, 2002JapanDEATH PENALTY
Kyodo News published an interview with Masaharu Harada,...
Kyodo News published an interview with Masaharu Harada, the brother of a murder victim, whose killer Toshihiko Hasegawa had been sentenced to death and executed on December 27, 2001
- NOVEMBER 22, 2002JapanDEATH PENALTY
Lawmakers opposed to Japan's use of the death penalty...
Lawmakers opposed to Japan's use of the death penalty revealed that they would submit to next year's Diet a bill to set up an ad hoc commission to debate whether it should be abolished
- NOVEMBER 22, 2002JapanDEATH PENALTY
It was revealed by group officials that the Japan Federation...
It was revealed by group officials that the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, Japan's largest bar organization, had intentions of proposing a legal moratorium on executions, the first time it has explicitly adopted a position against the death penalty
- NOVEMBER 21, 2002JapanDEATH PENALTY
Lawmakers opposed to Japan's use of capital punishment...
Lawmakers opposed to Japan's use of capital punishment plan to submit to the 2003 Diet a bill to set up an ad hoc death penalty commission to encourage public discussions on whether or not it should be abolished, the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper reported
- OCTOBER 31, 2002JapanDEATH PENALTY
An elderly man will remain on death row after the Tokyo...
An elderly man will remain on death row after the Tokyo High dismissed his appeal, ruling that a confession he gave to a 1988 double murder was unreliable but his guilt could be proved from other evidence
- OCTOBER 28, 2002JapanDEATH PENALTY
A former construction worker, who murdered a woman...
A former construction worker, who murdered a woman during a probation period after being released from jail on parole, has rescinded his appeal against a death sentence for his second crime