Hostage justice
Hostage justice is a Japanese-language phrase used in criticizing the Japanese judiciary. It refers to the period during which a defendant is held while denying an accusation, which is long compared with cases in which a defendant does not deny an accusation in Japanese criminal action procedure. Hostage justice is a system used by police and prosecutors to obtain confessions, regardless of whether the suspect is guilty or not guilty of a crime. Suspects can be held indefinitely under interrogation without charges. False confessions are common under these conditions, which leads to wrongful convictions for the falsely accused. Convictions can include life imprisonment and death.
The Asian Journal of Criminology describes 4 main problems in Japan's justice system that systematically mistreat criminal suspects. First being criminal "duty to receive interrogation. Here, criminal suspects have the right to remain silent yet they are still obligated to endure interrogation- despite its methods. According to study by Takano, criminal interrogation embodying the practice of high frequency, protracted or undesired acts create the fundamental problem with Hostage Justice as it results in long and unpleasant interrogation against the will of the criminal suspect. Second being restriction between suspect and individual who is not a defense lawyer. Third, police are often given the power to place suspects in detention for “dubious and pretextual purposes”. Fourth being having a “substitute imprisonment” system where prosecutors often detain suspects in police holding cells instead of official detention centers . This makes police interrogation more accessible yet it is also known as the “hotbed of false confessions”. All problems point to similar outcomes where criminal suspects give involuntary testimony-affirmation of charges, against their will.
Ohkawara Kakohki case
The Japan Times reported the case of Masaaki Okawara, the president of Ohkawara Kakohki, who was accused along with others of illegally exporting spray dryers. In March 2020, Okawara, Junji Shimada, and Shizuo Aishima were arrested despite having demonstrated the safety of their products to the police. During their detention, they exercised their right to remain silent and consequently faced harsh treatment by prosecutors.Aishima's bail requests were denied numerous times on the basis of potential conspiracy with other employees. This led to his medical needs being neglected; he died of stomach cancer in February 2021. Meanwhile, Okawara and Shimada were held in detention for 332 days. In February 2021, their bail requests were finally approved. Due to a lack of evidence, charges were dropped before the start of the trial in August 2021. Okawara described his treatment, stating, "I was treated as if I was a slave. With days like these that drained me physically and mentally, I sometimes wondered if it might have been a good idea to admit guilt in order to get out early."
In December 2023, the Tokyo District Court ruled that the arrests of Okawara, Shimada, and Aishima were unlawful and the indictments against them illegal. The court ordered the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Japanese government to pay approximately 160 million yen in compensation. In June 2025, senior officials from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department formally apologized to Okawara and Shimada.
BBC reported on the case of Carlos Ghosn, the former chairman of Nissan who was arrested for understating his annual salary and misusing company funds in November 2018. Upon his denial, he fled to Japan and was immediately arrested at the Tokyo airport. He was transported to the Tokyo Detention Centre where he was given prison clothes and confined to a cell. Ghosn was also restricted from having any contact with his wife, Carole Ghosn. She told The Guardian in 2019 that “for hours each day, the prosecutors interrogate him, browbeat him, lecture him and berated him, outside the presence of his attorney, in an effort to extract a confession.” Le Figaro reported that Carlos Ghosn's French lawyers described his continued Japanese detention in a complaint filed with the UNHCR as "hostage justice". CNN quoted Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University's Japan campus, stating "That system of hostage justice, I think, does not bear scrutiny."