Tetsuya Yamagami, the man who assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Nara in July 2022, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Nara District Court. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/21/japan/crime-legal/abe-assassin-trial-ruling/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #tetsuyayamagami #shinzoabe #japanesecourts #nara

The Justice Ministry's draft proposal to review Japan's retrial system does not ban public prosecutors from filing appeals against court decisions granting retrials despite calls for the practice to be abolished. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/21/japan/crime-legal/retrial-system-draft-proposal/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #japanesecourts #justiceministry

The Nara District Court is set to rule on Tetsuya Yamagami, the man standing trial for the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, bringing the high-profile case to an end. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/20/japan/crime-legal/japan-yamagami-trial-ruling-preview/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #tetsuyayamagami #shinzoabe #japanesecourts #nara #guns

A court has given a man a suspended sentence for transporting a then-high school student to Myanmar last year to have him engage in fraud despite knowing that the boy had been kidnapped. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/20/japan/crime-legal/student-myanmar-sentence-court/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #miyagi #japanesecourts #myanmar #highschools #fraud #kidnappings

The Osaka District Court on Friday dismissed a request from three death-row inmates for the state to ban executions by hanging. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/16/japan/crime-legal/osaka-court-hanging-executions/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #osaka #japanesecourts #deathpenalty

An official died and another was injured after a resident who was subject to a court-ordered eviction stabbed them at an apartment in Tokyo’s Suginami Ward, Tokyo police said. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/16/japan/crime-legal/court-official-conducting-eviction-stabbed/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #japanesecourts #realestate #tokyo #suginami #stabbings #japanesepolice

Many retrial requests filed by relatives of former defendants in serious crimes whose convictions had become final face difficulties as petitioners have died or grown very old amid protracted procedures. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/13/japan/crime-legal/retrial-requests-relatives-difficulties/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #japanesecourts #justiceministry

A new program began in Japan that offers comprehensive legal assistance basically for free for victims of serious crimes — including murder and sexual offenses — and bereaved families. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/13/japan/crime-legal/legal-support-crime-victims/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #sexcrimes #japanesecourts

A Sapporo court on Friday ordered the government to pay ¥1.1 million in damages to the mother of a Ground Self-Defense Force member who died by suicide in 2012. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/09/japan/crime-legal/sdf-government-lawsuit/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #sdf #gsdf #bullying #hokkaido #japanesecourts #suicide

Lawyers for a 98-year-old woman who served a prison term for the 1979 murder of a man in the town of Osaki in Kagoshima Prefecture filed the fifth request for a retrial on Thursday. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/09/japan/crime-legal/1979-kagoshima-murder-retrial-plea/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #japanesecourts #kagoshima #falseconvictions

Police provided protection to applicants for what are known as dark part-time jobs, or to their family members, in a total of 544 cases as of the end of last November, according to the National Police Agency. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/06/japan/crime-legal/police-dark-job-applicants/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #juvenilelaw #theft #japanesecourts #japanesepolice #fraud

A summary court has ordered Japanese actor Ryoko Hirosue to pay a ¥700,000 fine over a rear-end collision on the Shin-Tomei Expressway last April that injured a passenger in her vehicle, court officials said. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/01/06/japan/crime-legal/ryoko-hirosue-fine-court/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #ryokohirosue #celebrities #japanesefilm #shizuoka #japanesecourts

Otsu District Court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by residents of Osaka and Shiga prefectures to shut down three Kansai Electric Power nuclear plants in Fukui Prefecture. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/12/26/japan/crime-legal/court-dismissal-fukui-nuclear-plant/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #shiga #otsu #osaka #fukui #nuclearenergy #japanesecourts #kepco

The Japanese government has adopted an ordinance to enforce a revised Civil Code that will introduce joint parental custody of children after divorce, starting on April 1, 2026. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/12/25/japan/society/japan-joint-custody-april-start/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #society #civilcode #divorce #parenthood #children #japanesecourts

Hundreds of people across Japan have sued the central government seeking damages for "unconstitutional" inaction on climate change, saying the country's "grossly inadequate" response jeopardizes health and livelihoods. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/12/18/japan/crime-legal/climate-change-lawsuit/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #japanesecourts #climatechange #environment #emissions #un #parisagreement

Prosecutors demanded a 45-year-old man charged with fatally shooting former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022 be sentenced to life in prison, according to media reports. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/12/18/japan/crime-legal/prosecutors-yamagami-court/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #japanesecourts #tetsuyayamagami #shinzoabe #shinzoabeassassination #nara

A Japanese-French same-sex couple married in France is asking a Japanese family court to recognize their marriage, saying Japan’s ban is preventing them from starting a family in France. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/12/09/japan/same-sex-french-couple/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #japanesecourts #samesexmarriage #coralieprosper #reiwatanabeprosper #lgbtq

The Finance Ministry disclosed a fifth set of Moritomo Gakuen papers to the widow of a regional official who died by suicide after being ordered to tamper with official records on the sale. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/12/18/japan/politics/moritomo-papers-widow/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #politics #akieabe #corruption #financeministry #japanesecourts #osaka #shinzoabe #moritomogakuen

Japan's Justice Ministry unveiled a draft plan to revise the retrial system at a meeting of a subgroup of the Legislative Council on Tuesday. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/12/16/japan/crime-legal/retrial-system-review-draft/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #crimelegal #justiceministry #japanesecourts #falseconvictions #shizuoka #iwaohakamata

Tomihiro Tanaka, Japan head of the Unification Church, resigned from his post on Tuesday. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/12/09/japan/unification-church-japan-head-resign/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=mastodon #japan #unificationchurch #shinzoabeassassination #japanesecourts