J Update

Kyoto District Court   found   a defendant in a murder case of president of restaurant chain innocent on October 16 th . While the defendant is a member of gangster group, the court did not find sufficient evidence that he had killed the president. The court gave the benefit to a doubt. The law enforcement could not collect enough evidence on the criminal case. Uneasiness of the people on murder was amplified with the court decision.   The president of restaurant chain, Ousho of Gyoza, Takayuki Ohigashi was found dead in front of the headquarters building in Kyoto in the morning of December 19 th , 2013. The police arrested Yukio Tanaka, who was a member of Kudo-kai, one of the designated dangerous organized crime groups in Japan and indicted in 2022. Tanaka argued that he was not the man who killed Ohigashi in the trials.   The public prosecutors suspected Tanaka as the hitman of an organized crime. They found two cigarette butts at the place Ohigashi was killed, fr...

Can one’s voice legally be protected as personality? The court answered “yes” to this question. Tokyo District Court   approved  the argument of a voice actor who demanded legal protection of his voice which was used in large number of videos without permission. The court found that use of voice without permission for attracting customers would violate right of publicity.   Animation is prevalent in TV program or movie theaters in Japan. Some works, including “Demon Slayer” or “Attack on Titan,” are highly recognized in the world. “Spirited Away” received Oscar in U.S. Academy Awards in 2003. With high popularity of animation, voice actors play important role in those film works. Voice actor became a very popular profession, attracting a lot of fans of animation.   Kenjiro Tsuda, known as acted for Kento Nanami in Jujutsu Kaisen in voice, sued the operator of TikTok in November 2025, demanding deletion on movies that imitated Tsuda’s voice in them. The court recogniz...

One of the opposition parties in the Diet, Komeito,   decided  to cancel cooperation with Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan in coming unified local elections scheduled in April 2027. After dissolution of Centrist Reform Alliance (CRA) in September, Komeito has been taking distance from the CDPJ. Japan Communist Party (JCP) decided not to join the cooperative framework of opposition parties anymore. Opposition powers are further fragmented.   The Lower House lawmakers of Komeito and CDPJ established the CRA in January to counter the leading coalition, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Japan Innovation Party (JIP), in the snap election in February called by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. However, the CRA had a serious defeat as voters found the merge to be an evil maneuver without agreement in some fundamental policies.   Having unable to hold a unified policy, the CRA decided to separate between former Komeito and the CDPJ in September. Former Komeito lawm...

Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi,   appointed   Arata Takebe to Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries as the replacement of Kazuo Yana who stepped down with his irrelevant speech of intervention in cutting local road budget. The opposition parties continue to hold Takaichi accountable for having named Yana to her cabinet minister. It is inevitable that Takaichi’s political agenda will slow down.   Elected from Hokkaido 12 th  district, known as the region of agriculture and fishery, Takebe is in his 6 th  term as a member of the House of Representatives. He was state minister of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) in Kishida administration. His father, Tsutomu Takebe, was Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party in Jun-ichiro Koizumi administration, having experienced the minister of MAFF. Arata succeeded his father’s job.   Yana resigned as the minister of MAFF the day before. While Yana appeared to be voluntarily steppe...

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Kazuo Yana,  submitted  his resignation to his boss, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, on October 14 th . Takaichi accepted it, but it is commonly recognized that Takaichi had fired him. Yana was accused of his boasting that he had cut road budget for municipalities in his electoral district, which leaders had not supported him in last election. Although Takaichi hopes Yana’s scandal not to affect schedule of discussions of the Diet, opposition parties are still asking responsibility of Takaichi to have chosen inappropriate person for her minister.   Takaichi had been supportive for Yana last week, encouraging him to work harder to continue his job as the minister. However, she changed her stance this week toward not ruling his resignation out. In the discussion at the Committee on Budget of the Lower House, Yana could not explain the details of the scandal, in which he was doubted as intervening in the decision of budgetary d...

Russian News Agency, TASS,   reported   that a correspondent for Japanese newspaper, Hokkaido Shimbun, was detained on suspicion of espionage in the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in Russia’s Far East and was taken to Moscow on October 13 th . The report indicated that the journalist was collecting information of Russian residents of Kuril Islands, including Japan’s Northern Territory, who voluntarily participated in “the special military operation” in Ukraine. The newspaper officially commented that it was collecting information about the incident.   TASS reported that the journalist had “collected and stored information about the number of mobilized and volunteer participants in the special military operation among residents of the Kuril Islands,” acting on the instructions of the national intelligence service. Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) initiated a criminal case against the Japanese citizen under Article 276 (espionage) of the  Criminal Code .   Russia...

Cyberattacks on Japanese corporations   are increasing  these months. Personal information was stolen in these cases, causing concern on false use for opening a bank account or establishing contract of loan. It is supposed that development of artificial intelligence enabled finding vulnerability of systems. The government of Japan warned private companies to take measures.   Times Car, a company of car sharing service, announced that it received wrong access to its system and personal data of its 6 million customers was stolen. The stolen information included photo image of driver’s license, which can be falsely used for opening a bank account. Some of the customers whose data was stolen are preparing for a lawsuit to demand compensation for psychological damage.   The consecutive cyberattacks have been made on various businesses, including railroad company, restaurants, rental book shop or convenience stores. JR East lost personal data of 6.09 million customers from...

Six opposition parties in the Upper House consider sponsoring a censure motion against Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery, Kazuo Yana, who had intimidated local governments to reduce subsidy. The leading coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Japan Innovation Party do not have a majority in the House. Although the motion does not have power to discharge Yana, it is likely that discussion of all the bills may be refused by the opposition parties, if the motion is approved. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has not changed her position of protecting Yana.   Yana admitted his comment that he had cut the budget for construction of roads in Nasukarasuyama city and Nakagawa town, which are located in his electoral district, but denied his engagement in the decision for the budget. The budget for those roads were actually cut in fiscal year 2026. Although the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) also denied influence of Yana on the budget, but did n...

A medical startup based on the University of Osaka   announced   late September that it successfully transplanted heart patch derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into a patient with serious heart disease. It made the first example of practical use of iPS cells in the world. Having twenty years passed since development of iPS cells, Japan entered an era of providing medical services using this new regenerative technology.   The  iPS cells  are generated by making adult cells go back to an immature status which can transform into various organ of human body. Professor of Kyoto University, Shinya Yamanaka, announced generation of iPS cells in 2006 and he received Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012. Since the generation of iPS cells, experts have been developing the way for practical use.   A startup dealing with iPS cells, Cuorips, has been developing cardiomyocyte sheet to cure heart disease. Osaka Keisatsu Hospital, which president Y...

The Norwegian Nobel Committee   decided   on October 9 th  that the Nobel Peace Prize in 2026 would go to a judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, who “significantly enlarged the scope and impact of international law.” Hours after the announcement, the United States countered the committee by imposing sanction on the International Criminal Court (ICC), for which Pillay once served as a judge. Prime Minister of Japan, Sanae Takaichi, simply showed her “deep concern” on U.S. decision. Pillay served as a judge of International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda between 1999 and 2003, the ICC between 2004 and 2008, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights between 2008 and 2014. She was involved in ICJ’s decision to recognize Israel’s attack on Gaza as genocide in 2025 and now is in charge of a trial in which Myanmar is suspected to commit genocide over Rohingya. The Nobel committee said that Pillay has contributed to strengthen the inst...

Three days after a woman in Okinawa was killed and a U.S. Marine was arrested with suspicion of murder, the Governor of Okinawa, Genta Koja, visited Tokyo and  had a meeting  with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. While Koja demanded Takaichi to take measures not to repeat that crime by U.S. military personnel in Japan, Takaichi replied with her intention not more than taking “appropriate measures.” No one knows whether such a violence by members of U.S. Forces in Japan will never be repeated.   A number of incidents of sexual violence by U.S. military personnel were reiterated in Okinawa. Okinawa has been frustrated with the response of U.S. Force and government of Japan. In 1995 when a girl was raped by a U.S. soldier, the U.S. Force rejected handing the suspect to the Japanese law enforcement before indictment. When multiple incidents were revealed in 2024, the U.S. Force prohibited its members drinking in bars and restaurants during 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. Nevertheless, the mur...

Doubts on Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Kazuo Yana, about pressuring on his political opponents growingly shadows Sanae Takaichi administration. Although he denied his intervention in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), the budget for road construction in two of his hostile cities in his electoral district was actually cut. Not only opposition but leading parties began to criticize Yana.   Yana made a speech that he had cut the budget for constructing roads in Nasukarasuyama city and Nakagawa town, which mayors supported a contender against Yana in last Lower House election in February. The MLIT is in charge of selecting the cities to appropriate budget for roads. Although lawmakers have power to investigate policies of government, they are not authorized to instruct ministries how to distribute national budget to local municipalities.   To the questions of the press, Yana  explained  that he had asked the MLIT about...

The government of Japan   revised   the guideline for foreigner’s permanent residence on October 1 st . New rule requires foreigners’ application for permanent residence certain amount of income, which is higher than average of Japanese citizens. The fee for application becomes twenty times expensive. In short, Japanese government only needs foreigners who are richer than Japanese. This tighter regulation reflects political preference of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi who are firmly supported by conservative powers.   Experienced national isolationism for two centuries between 17 th  and 19 th , Japan still keeps a tradition of strict regulation for accepting foreigners. In 2025, only 1,186 people out of 11,298 applicants (1.6 percent)  were registered  as refugees. Article 22 of   Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act  provides that the status of permanent residence can be given only when Minister of Justice recognizes the person as...

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi gave   a policy speech   on the first day of extraordinary session of the Diet convoked on October 5 th . Focusing on introduction of consumption tax cut, Takaichi stressed that she would strengthen Japanese economy, spending sixty percent of time of her speech. However, she never explained how she would find the financial resource for her economic policy. In her speech, she reiterated an idiom of ancient China: Keisei-saimin ( 経世済民 ), which means “Good governance save the people.” The Japanese in Edo era interpreted the word of “economy” as “keizai ( 経済 )”, an abbreviation of keisei-saimin. Former prime minister Noboru Takeshita named his faction “Keisei-kai ( 経世会 )” based on keisei-saimin. It is unknown why Takaichi introduced this idiom in her speech. The people in former Abe faction, or Seiwa-kai, never referred to this idiom, because Takeshita was their political enemy.   Anyway, Takaichi’s focus in her policy speech was economy. Arguing...

Okinawa Prefectural Police   arrested   a U.S. Marine with suspicion of robbery murder in Okinawa city on October 4 th . The suspect is doubted as killing a Japanese woman in a hotel room. Violence of U.S. military personnel has historically been causing firm opposition to U.S. military bases in Okinawa. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is going to face requests for improvement of current situation that most U.S. military bases in Japan are concentrated in Okinawa.   The suspect, Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, stationed at U.S. Marine Corp Futenma Base, was arrested after the police found a dead woman in a hotel room in Naha city. A camera installed at the hotel captured Ballard entering hotel with the woman and left the hotel alone. Confirming the same feature between the man in the video and Ballard, including his hairdo and tattoo in both arms, the police identified him as the suspect.   The woman is supposed to be choked to death. Her backpack and wallet were stolen. Ball...

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Kazuo Yana, is doubted that he had pressured Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) not to appropriate for building roads in specific cities. Those cities are located in the electoral district of Yana and Yana’s request to MLIT can be interpreted as retaliation to the cities which supported the contender against Yana in the last election. Yana mostly admitted that he had told about his behavior in a meeting with his supporters.   Yana is a member of House of Representative, affiliated with the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), in his sixth term. In the last election in February 2026, Yana  was defeated  by an independent candidate in District 3 of Tochigi. Because he lost with a relatively small margin, however, he was resurrected in proportional district. In the reshuffle of cabinet in September, Takaichi picked Yana for agriculture minister.   Weekly Bunshun  magazine recently reported that...

The world’s largest maker of precision motors, Nidec,   announced   on September 30 th  that it recorded 564.6 billion yen of final deficit in its consolidated financial statements as of March 2026. The biggest deficit in the company’s history was caused by counting on 632.1 billion yen of impairment loss, which stemmed from revision of financial statement with a scandal on its management.The auditor of Nidec withheld its opinion to the securities report. Nidec faces a possibility of being delisted from the stock market in Tokyo.   Nidec was found as making false report on its finance in 2025. After the third-party committee’s investigation, it  was revealed  that Nidec added 160.7 billion yen of fictitious net profit to its financial report between March 2021 and April to June 2025. Nidec was also involved in wrong management, which affects quality of its products. The company replaced parts of motors or changed process of production without noticing to it...

A month after a request from the government of Japan, the mayor of Hitachiomiya, Ibaraki, Sadayuki Suzuki,   announced   that his city would accept literature survey to select the location for final disposal site of high-level nuclear waste. The city will be awarded 2 billion yen of subsidy from the national government. Since the government made the request, Suzuki did not hold a meeting with the residents to explain about the survey.   Hitachiomiya became the fifth candidate for building the final disposal facility of nuclear waste which has been produced in nuclear power plants, following towns of Suttsu and Kamoenai in Hokkaido that accepted the survey in November 2020, Genkai in Saga in June 2024 and isolated Minamitorishima Island of Ogasawara village in Tokyo prefecture in June 2026. Hitachiomiya made itself the first city in Honshu Island of Japan to accept a literature survey, which is the first step in scientific researches for the final disposal.   The Mini...