Japan Country Information – Criminal Penalties (2024)

FAQs

What are the criminal penalties in Japan? ›

If you violate local laws, even unknowingly, you may be arrested, imprisoned, or deported. If you are arrested in Japan, even for a minor offense, you may be held in detention without bail for several months or more during the investigation and legal proceedings.

Under Japanese Criminal Law, there are six main penalties: death, imprisonment with labor, imprisonment without labor, fines (more than I0,000 yen), penal detention (short imprisonment up to 30 days), and minor fines (less than i0,000 yen).

To be clear, having a conviction on your record won't keep you from entering Japan for life. You will, however, have to jump through extra hoops. For instance, you'll likely need: A passport and an entry visa or waiver of restrictions: Getting the right documentation is a normal requirement for all travellers.

Japan's national information disclosure law provides anyone the right to demand information in the possession of national government agencies and government-owned entities.

The majority of crimes recorded in Japan are theft offenses. Among violent crimes, the most reported offenses are assaults and bodily injuries followed by rapes and homicides. Approximately 21.1 cases of assault and 0.7 cases of murder were recorded per 100,000 Japanese inhabitants in 2021.

Life imprisonment (無期懲役, muki chōeki) is one of the most severe punishments available in Japan, second only to the death penalty. The punishment is of indefinite length and may last for the remainder of the person's life.

Japan belongs to an inquisitory system of the criminal process. Therefore, a judge oversees the proceedings and also determines the guilt and the sentence of the accused. The citizen lay judges, as well as professional judges, are allowed to put forth questions to defendants, witnesses, and victims during the trial.

More adults are in prison than child delinquents, mainly because of the low crime rate. In Japan, juvenile prisoners are defined as people less than 20 years of age. All juvenile cases are first sent to a family court, where the judge may decide that the juvenile be tried by the ordinary court (as an adult).

Other than the police and the military, no one in Japan may purchase a handgun or a rifle. Hunters and target shooters may possess shotguns and airguns under strictly circ*mscribed conditions. The police check gun licensees' ammunition inventory to make sure there are no shells or pellets unaccounted for.

' Whether you disclose your conviction on the EDcard is something only you can decide. Japanese Immigration have no links to the Police National Computer and officials would need to seek permission through Interpol to be provided with criminal record information.

What convictions stop entry to Japan? ›

(iv) A person who has been convicted of a violation of any law or regulation of Japan, or of any other country, and has been sentenced to imprisonment with or without work for 1 Page 2 year or more, or to an equivalent penalty. However, this shall not apply to those convicted of a political offense.

Yes, employee background checks in Japan are legal but subject to strict regulations to protect individuals' privacy rights. The primary legislation governing employee background checks in Japan is the Act on the Protection of Personal Information or APPI.

Japan's legal system is structured as a “Civil Law” system, based upon codified statutes. This is similar to the legal systems adopted by many countries around the world, most notably in Europe. The U.S. legal system, by contrast, is a “Common Law” system, based upon case law and published judicial opinions.

The current Japanese legal system is a hybrid of continental and American law. Both the Civil Law concepts and the more recent Common Law influences are all effected by traditional Japanese values.

All of the people shall be respected as individuals. Their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness shall, to the extent that it does not interfere with the public welfare, be the supreme consideration in legislation and in other governmental affairs.

Japan's drug laws are very strict, although not as strict as fellow Asian nations such as Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and China, where drug offenders can be executed. Japan is not one of the 35 countries that have the death penalty for drug offenses – instead, the maximum punishment is life imprisonment.

China. China is the world's leading country in its use of the death penalty – with 24 violent crimes and 22 non-violent crimes (including embezzlement and bribery) punishable by death, and as many as 2,400 people being executed in 2015 alone. Most executions are carried out by shooting or lethal injection.