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July 01, 2026
 

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SUPREME COURT

Japan's Supreme Court has upheld lower court rulings ordering the dissolution of the controversial religious group known as the Unification Church.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 23, 2026
Japan top court upholds order to dissolve Unification Church
This is the first time the top court has finalized a dissolution order for a religious corporation over unlawful acts under the Civil Code.
Judge Akifumi Morimoto is suspected of accessing an online casino site more than 60,000 times and engaging in gambling from April to September 2023.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 14, 2026
Japan’s top court seeks judge’s dismissal over his suspected online gambling
The Akita District Public Prosecutors Office indicted the judge on suspicion of accessing an online casino site more than 60,000 times and gambling from April to September 2023.
Hunter Haruo Ikegami (left) receives an apology from a Hokkaido police official in the city of Sunagawa on Thursday.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 9, 2026
Hokkaido returns rifle to hunter after court canceled revocation of his license
The hunter had his license revoked on the grounds that he could have damaged nearby structures when he shot a brown bear in 2018 at the request of the Sunagawa city government.
Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a meeting in Tokyo last week. Lower court rulings against a man who attacked him in 2023 are set to be finalized after being upheld by the Supreme Court.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 31, 2026
Top court upholds 10-year sentence for man who attacked Kishida in 2023
Lower court rulings had sentencing the 27-year-old for attacking the then prime minister with an explosive during an election campaign event the city of Wakayama.
Haruo Ikegami (center) smiles in Tokyo on Friday after the Supreme Court overturned a high court ruling that said it was legal for Hokkaido to revoke his gun license.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 28, 2026
Top court backs Hokkaido hunter who lost gun license after shooting bear
This was the first time for the Supreme Court to rule the revocation of a hunting gun license to be illegal.
Members of parliament and supporters participate in a rally organized by Marriage For All Japan in Tokyo in December.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 26, 2026
Japan top court to issue unified ruling on same-sex marriage
The Grand Bench, consisting of the Supreme Court’s 15 justices, is expected to give its ruling as early as next year.
Hirotsugu Sakahara (left), Hiromu Sakahara’s eldest son, shakes hands with Hideko Hakamata, an older sister of a former defendant who received a not-guilty verdict in a retrial, after they learned that Sakahara’s father case would be reopened, on Tuesday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 25, 2026
Top court grants retrial for deceased inmate over 1984 murder in Shiga
The decision makes it the first case in recent history in which a retrial was granted for a deceased inmate.
Co-representative Yasuyuki Tokuda (left) of the defense team speaks at a news conference in the city of Fukuoka on Monday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 17, 2026
High court rejects retrial appeal over 1992 Fukuoka child murder
The defense plans to file a special appeal with the Supreme Court against the decision.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the appeal of Brennon Washington, a 26-year-old U.S. airman at Kadena Air Base, finalizing his five-year prison sentence for kidnapping and sexually assaulting an underage girl in Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 3, 2026
Japan’s top court rejects U.S. airman’s appeal in Okinawa assault case
The Supreme Court’s decision finalizes the five-year prison sentence for Brennon Washington, a 26-year-old service member at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture.
Defendants in detention in court often remain in handcuffs and waist restraints until judges enter the courtroom, to help prevent escape.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 29, 2026
Japan to reconsider use of handcuffs and ropes for defendants in court
Current rules will still apply if a defendant is considered a flight risk.
The Supreme Court has confirmed a lower court ruling in favor of the state in a damages lawsuit filed by 27 children of hibakusha in Hiroshima.
JAPAN
Jan 26, 2026
Top court rejects damages suit by children of Hiroshima hibakusha
In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs claimed that the exclusion of hibakusha children from the hibakusha support law was unconstitutional.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (third from right) bows as she meets with the victims of forced sterilization at the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Society
Jan 22, 2026
Takaichi meets with victims of forced sterilization
The prime minister said the government’s responsibility is “extremely grave” and added that she wanted to make sure everyone received compensation.
Campaigners working for the legalization of same-sex marriages in Japan walk toward the Supreme Court in Tokyo on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 3, 2025
Same-sex marriage campaigners take fight to Japan’s top court
The court has been asked to consider the lives of people who dreamed of marrying but were “consistently excluded from the legal marriage system.”
A U.S. Air Force serviceman in Okinawa Prefecture has appealed to the Supreme Court against a high court ruling that upheld a five-year sentence for abducting and sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 16 in the prefecture, it was revealed on Friday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 12, 2025
U.S. airman appeals to top court in Okinawa assault case
Brennon Washington filed the appeal Wednesday after receiving the ruling by the Fukuoka High Court’s branch in Naha that day.
Chief Justice Yukihiko Imasaki
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 3, 2025
Supreme Court chief vows to handle retrial requests swiftly
“There have not been many requests for retrial, so it is not easy to share and accumulate experiences,” Supreme Court Chief Justice Yukihiko Imasaki said.
The Supreme Court ruled that the man's conduct could undermine public trust in the system and the sound operation of the bus service.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 18, 2025
Japan bus driver steals $7, loses $84,000 pension
The city of Kyoto sacked the man after he was filmed by a bus security camera taking ¥1,000 in 2022.
Protesters demonstrating in front of the Supreme Court in Tokyo on Tuesday against court rulings acquitting two former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings over the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 12, 2025
Acquittal of two former Tepco executives finalized
Lawyers acting as prosecutors did not file an appeal against the Supreme Court’s decision last week that upheld the not-guilty verdicts against the executives.
Former Executive Vice President Ichiro Takekuro enters the Tokyo High Court for the appellate court ruling in January 2023 in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 6, 2025
Acquittal of two former Tepco executives to be finalized
The Supreme Court supported the lower courts’ decisions that the accident was unpredictable and decided to dismiss an appeal by lawyers acting as prosecutors.
The Supreme Court has rejected FC2's appeals against two separate rulings made against it by the Intellectual Property High Court in July 2022 and May 2023.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 4, 2025
FC2 infringed on Dwango’s patent, Japan’s top court rules
The Supreme Court rejected FC2’s appeals against two lower court rulings ordering the Las Vegas-based firm to stop violating Dwango’s patent on a video comment-posting system.
The publisher in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, announced in 2016 that it would publish a reprinted version of a pre-World War II survey listing areas where the descendants of feudal outcasts lived. It published lists of the areas on its website.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 6, 2024
Japan’s top court finalizes order to erase feudal outcast area lists
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit said the publication of the lists violated their personal rights.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
“A Dictionary of Color Combinations” is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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