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
- FEBRUARY 1, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo District Court sentenced Yoshio Iwamoto,...
The Tokyo District Court sentenced Yoshio Iwamoto, a 56-year-old man to death for committing two murder-robberies in 1996 and 1999 in Tokyo
- JANUARY 30, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
Presiding Judge Toshifumi Motohara of the Supreme Court...
Presiding Judge Toshifumi Motohara of the Supreme Court rejected Kozo Segawa's appeal against lower court capital sentence
- JANUARY 30, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
Members of the government's panel on judicial reform...
Members of the government's panel on judicial reform agreed that a joint judge-jury system should be introduced in criminal trials
- JANUARY 1, 2001JapanDEATH PENALTY
In February 2001 the EU called on Japan to abolish...
In February 2001 the EU called on Japan to abolish the capital punishment
- JANUARY 1, 2001JapanDEATH 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 10, 2000JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tokyo High Court upheld a death sentence imposed...
The Tokyo High Court upheld a death sentence imposed on a man who murdered two men and one woman in Tochigi Prefecture from 1990 to 1993 in the mistaken belief that the men were having affairs with his wife
- DECEMBER 3, 2000JapanDEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International leader Pierre Sane renewed the...
Amnesty International leader Pierre Sane renewed the group's call for Japan to abolish the death penalty and also criticized the country's treatment of death-row inmates
- NOVEMBER 30, 2000JapanDEATH PENALTY
Three convicted killers, Kiyotaka Katsuta, 52, who...
Three convicted killers, Kiyotaka Katsuta, 52, who changed his family name to Fujiwara, Takashi Miyawaki, 57, and Kunikatsu Oishi, 55 were hanged
- NOVEMBER 30, 2000JapanDEATH PENALTY
Activists in strongly anti-death penalty Italy picketed...
Activists in strongly anti-death penalty Italy picketed outside the Japanese Embassy in protest of Japan's hanging of three murderers
- OCTOBER 26, 2000JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Takamatsu High Court sentenced 65 year-old Yoshio...
The Takamatsu High Court sentenced 65 year-old Yoshio Yamazaki to death for murdering two people in 1985 and 1990 for insurance money and overturned a lower court ruling of life imprisonment
- OCTOBER 11, 2000JapanDEATH PENALTY
Prosecutors demanded the death penalty for Noboru Nakamura,...
Prosecutors demanded the death penalty for Noboru Nakamura, 33, a former AUM Shinrikyo member who allegedly took part in the 1994 nerve-gas attack
- SEPTEMBER 28, 2000JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Takamatsu High Court made a rare decision to uphold...
The Takamatsu High Court made a rare decision to uphold a lower court ruling that sentenced 73-year-old Haruno Sakamoto to death for the murder of her husband and an employee of the bar she ran