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With more than 99 percent of indictments leading to convictions, Japan has a reputation for being tough on crime. What that figure does not take into account, however, is that prosecutors are hesitant to bring cases to trial unless they can be assured a conviction.
The Ministry of Justice recently released figures for 2007 that showed only 43.6 percent of all criminal cases went to trial. And the figure is even lower — 13.3 percent — for criminal charges against personnel connected to the U.S. military.
The data …

From Dec. 2, The Japan Times is serializing one of Japan’s early detective novels, “The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi: Detective Stories of Old Edo,” in which author Kido Okamoto (1872-1939), offers entertaining and thrilling stories set in Edo Period Japan.

The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi

The Restoration
The Serialization of Hanshichi, 1917 — 1937
A Tale of Two Cities
Hanshichi’s Namesakes
The Influence of Sherlock Holmes
The Origins of the Torimonocho

Although widely read in Japan since its publishing in the years between 1917 and 1937, it wasn’t until 2007 that the book was translated into …

BT’ers are probably familiar with my views/comments on the 1995 rape of the 12-year old Okinawan girl. I will not comment on the film since I have not watched it.
“Never let them forget.”
That’s the tagline for “The First Breath of Tengan Rei,” a new independent film that focuses on an Okinawa woman who travels to Chicago to confront two Marines who abducted, raped and left her for dead a decade ago.
And if the story line sounds familiar, it should. The directors loosely based some of the plot on a 1995 …

This in from Debito: “The killer of Scott Tucker, choked to death by a DJ in a Tokyo bar, gets suspended sentence.
Zurui: Here is some background information on the Bul-lets DJ. — Police confirmed Wednesday that they have charged a man with killing an American man in a nightclub in Azabu on Feb 29. Atsushi Watanabe, 29, was charged with killing Richard Scott Tucker, 47, by choking him and punching him from behind at around 10:40 p.m. The victim was taken to hospital but died about one hour later.
According to police, …

Punishment for drunken drivers will become dramatically tougher under proposed revisions to the enforcement regulations of the Road Traffic Law coming into effect next June, the National Police Agency (NPA) said.
Under the new rules, those found with 0.25 milligrams or more of alcohol per liter of breath will receive a penalty of 25 points from their license, up from 13, and lose it on the spot. Between 0.15 and less than 0.25 milligrams will incur 13 points instead of 6, earning a 90-day suspension.
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Third World Congress against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents: Viewing child porn, manga depicting such to be criminalized; Simple possession of child porn unpunishable in Japan
It has been seven years since the Yokohama congress, and Japan has yet to regulate the simple possession of child porn. This is a problem. I want Japan to seriously consider placing a ban on child porn, including viewing such as well.It has been seven years since the Yokohama congress, and Japan has yet to regulate the simple possession of child porn. This is …

The Justice Ministry has released statistics showing the numbers of cases indicted and dropped over crimes and other incidents involving U.S. military personnel in 2007. Public prosecutors indicted 48.6% of all cases, including those violating the Road Traffic Law and other specific laws. However, when it comes to criminal cases like robberies and thefts, the indictment rate was extremely low at 13.3%. 
In the breakdown of indicted crimes, traffic law violations were overwhelming at 286 cases, followed by vehicular manslaughters at 30 cases and bodily injuries at 7 cases. Among dropped …

Let’s Japan reported that a man who challenged a 1999 groping accusation by a female commuter won his court case against the accuser Nov. 7, 2008.
The Japan Supreme Court revoked the charge of “public nuisance” against the man. In September 1999, a woman accused the man of rubbing his groin on her thigh as they stood on the Chuo line railway train in Tokyo. The man was arrested and charged with a crime but denied the accusation. He filed civil lawsuits against the woman.
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Experts concerned about bill amending Child Pornography Prevention Law, fearing restrictions on manga, anime, investigating authorities’ view reflected in judgment, freedom of expression undermined
The ruling coalition has submitted a bill amending the Child Pornography Prevention Law to the current Diet session. The bill prohibits the individual possession of child pornography and indecent videos. Manga (comics) and anime (animated cartoons) may be subject to restrictions in the future. Given this, cartoonists and experts have voiced concern, fearing that an enactment of the revision bill would lead to undermining the principle of …

The U.S. Marines in Japan have ordered U.S. service personnel in Okinawa Prefecture to stay away from residential areas, schools, cemeteries and other public locations in an apparent effort to ease local anger over a slew of incidents involving U.S. military personnel.

The order also prohibits the U.S. personnel from conducting activities such as cliff diving, bungee jumping and hang gliding.
‘‘Service members found in an off-limits area or participating in a prohibited activity will be in violation of’’ the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the Marines said in a message posted …

Although Japan and the United States have concurred on Japan’s jurisdiction over crimes committed by U.S. military personnel and others stationed in Japan, there exists a document implying that the two countries actually had concluded a secret pact under which Japan waives its jurisdiction over crimes with the exception of major incidents, Shoji Niihara, a researcher of international affairs, announced yesterday. The government has denied that there has been such a deal.
According to Niihara, the document was found at the U.S. National Archives. On Oct. 28, 1953, when the Japanese …

THE STORY HAS ALL THE ELEMENTS of more familiar causes célèbre: Parasitic attorneys disfiguring the intent of the law to further their own objectives, politicians making intemperate comments and then toggling between I’m sorry/I’m not sorry, and newspapers imitating third-rate blogs. In short, it’s another milestone in the descent of public discourse into the cesspool.
Except this time the story is happening in Japan and not in the West.
In April 1999, an 18-year-old male posed as a plumber (or plumbing inspector, or drainage pipe repair worker, depending on the newspaper) to …

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A Japanese businessman hanged himself in a Los Angeles jailcell where he was awaiting trial for plotting his wife’s murder here in 1981, prosecutors said Saturday.
Kazuyoshi Miura, 61, killed himself Friday night just hours after arriving in Los Angeles in the custody of authorities that had him extradited to face criminal charges here.
Chief of Los Angeles police detectives Charles Beck said Miura used a piece of shirt to hang himself after a jailer checked on him at 9:45 pm Friday (0445 GMT Saturday). Miura was alone in his cell.
An …

Under Japan’s new drink-driving laws which permit the police to fine passengers, not just the driver, the first passenger to be so charged was sentenced to a JPY250,000 in Sendai District Court.
The passenger was fined on the basis that he asked his drunk friend to drive him home while knowing that the driver was drunk. As a result, the driver slammed into a walking group of high schoolers, and killed three of them. The driver has already been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
BTW, Japanese law applies to all of those who fall under the Status of Forces …

Ahhhhhhhh!! So much for getting my drink on! Across the paddies and orchards of rural Japan, the autumn harvest festival season is usually a riotously boozy affair. It is a moment to rejoice in nature’s bounty and to honour the local deity by drinking - occasionally immodestly - in its honour. Favourite draughts include distilled shochu, and the weaker, sweeter, saké rice wine.
In the past week more than a million bottles of shochu and saké - drinks made from rice - have been recalled over safety fears. The company behind the …

Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent reports, Japan’s powerful yakuza organised crime syndicates are mounting a widespread assault on the country’s financial markets that may have left hundreds of listed companies riddled with mob connections.
In a surprisingly stark admission, the National Police Agency (NPA) says that it is locked in a battle for the economic soul and international reputation of Japan.
Police investigations suggest that the yakuza have become voracious traders and manipulators of listed Japanese shares, and, via a network of about a thousand apparently legitimate front companies, occupy big positions on …

Former makuuchi division Russian wrestler, 20-year-old Toshinori Wakanoho (whose real name is Soslan Gagloev), under arrest for possessing marijuana, has told police that he first turned to drugs in his early teens, and that after he entered the sumo world he smoked dope every time he went home to Russia.
According to a statement Wakanoho made to police, he went to a nightclub in Tokyo’s Roppongi entertainment district by himself on June 20, where he was offered marijuana by a Russian man and a black man. He smoked the drug in …

Here is an interesting post from Japan Subculture:
I was knocking back drinks with a former bodyguard in the Yamaguchigumi, and it was raining outside.
He is about fifty years old, six feet five, and has arms that are bigger than my legs.
I was sitting on the tatami listening to the rain outside, and while he lit up his twentieth cigarette of the day I said,
“I love rainy days.”
He didn’t agree.
“I hate them. Most yakuza do. People get taken out when it rains –  the rain washes away the blood, the trace …

Sometimes I really miss my old job. Here is a hit and a miss for the South Korean intelligence community. The DPRK once again shows the world how to get the most bang for their buck when employing kidnapped South Koreans, Japanese and others used to train DPRK spy. This gives the job title “foreign language teacher” a whole new meaning doesn’t it?!
Seoul, South Korea: A North Korean woman accused of using ‘sex as a tool for her spy activity’ and plotting to assassinate South Korean intelligence agents with poisoned needles …

I need to further research the article below (considering the source of information, the Akahata Shimbun) and provide my analysis. Please feel free to comment!
[Akata Shimbun] It has been revealed that Japan and the U.S. concluded a secret treaty that specifies Japan’s waiver of primary jurisdiction over crimes committed by U.S. soldiers off duty in cases deemed of “no special importance.” A paper issued in 2001 by persons including a USFJ legal advisor notes that Japan continues to faithfully observe the pact.
It has become known through U.S. government declassified documents and other means that the two countries concluded …

A very interesting case. I am surprised that the citizens stepped up. Will others across Japan follow suit?
FUKUOKA–About 600 residents in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, filed a petition for a temporary injunction Monday at the Kurume branch of the Fukuoka District Court that will stop the Dojin-kai crime syndicate from using its headquarters in the city.
According to the lawyers of the residents, this is the first such case in the country in which residents have filed for a temporary injunction requiring a designated crime syndicate to move its headquarters.
Since 2006, the …

My previous posts on the yakuza and certain illegal activities have received many hits on the blog and Google search. The interesting article below gives additional insight into one of Tokyo’s most popular nightspots, Roppongi:
TOKYO - Given Tokyo’s well-earned reputation as a metropolis of concrete, vacant lots typically do not stay empty for long. But the 3,800-square-meter site in Roppongi, halfway between Roppongi Hills and Tokyo Midtown, might remain fenced off and covered with dirt for some time.
The infamous TSK.CCC Terminal building formerly occupied the property until its demolition was completed in …

The Mainichi Shimbun reported that “the ruling coalition and the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) have decided to start talks in the next extraordinary Diet session in the fall on revising the Child Prostitution and Child Pornography Prevention Law to strengthen restrictions on child pornography, with the aim of enacting legislation in November. The focus of attention is on the question of to what extent Japan will criminalize the individual possession of child pornography. The ruling camp calls for banning even simple possession of child pornography currently held by individuals, …

I previously reported the story of Captain Tomoaki Iishiba who was indicted for conspiring to export military equipment to Japan without obtaining U.S. government approval. He pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to smuggle firearms parts to Japan without a license.
Capt. Tomoaki Iishiba admitted in his plea agreement Monday that he circumvented export permit requirements by using false information on customs declarations to illegally send firearms parts, such as holographic night vision sights, to contacts in Japan. He admitted to sending the parts on numerous occasions between 2006 and 2008.
In the …

Below is additional information on Captain Tomoaki Iishiba the Army 0-3 Indicted for Military Tech Export:

Lt. Tomoaki Iishiba is something of a celebrity among the Japanese troops he’s working with here in Sendai.
A policeman’s son who grew up in Tokyo, he left his native country in 1993 and moved to the United States to pursue his dream of becoming a soldier.
He wrote a book about his experiences in Afghanistan as an infantryman in the 82nd Airborne Division. It speaks directly to the kind of guys he’s working with now as …