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Scenario Paper: Japan’s Criminal Justice System
Coral E. Flores Tolentino
Liberty University
CJUS 701: Comparative Criminal Justice
March 3rd, 2024
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Abstract
Viewed as a safe country for travelers, Japan seems like a good place to visit. Unfortunately, it is
run and funded by organized crime. While membership of the organization is not illegal, their
financial affairs tend to be. The yakuza have the makings of a gang or mafia organization, and
they operate in a way where it is hard to pinpoint their illegal activity and separate it from the
legal activity that they use to hide their wrongdoings. Corruption and legal business help this
organization to thrive.
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Scenario Paper: Japan’s Criminal Justice System
Japan is one of the most popular destination areas for tourists, it has a good reputation for
being safe for both citizens and visitors and there is plenty to do. The National Police Association
of Japan states that the number of crimes in the country in 2020 were the lowest they have
experienced since World War II (Japan, 2021). Japan has advanced technology which attracts the
foreigners and in comparison, with the rest of the world, they are way above the mark when it
comes to technology and that is something to be proud of. Japan has been an economic force for
decades, regardless of its size. Japan has the third largest economy worldwide (Newsham, 2019).
Japan has its own rich culture, and it is unlike many other countries, they are proud of their
history, their roots, and customs and many are still practiced today.
Japan has a great variety of music, food and many animated shows that have gained
popularity in America, so much so that many Americans dream of visiting Japan to experience
the culture, the customs and what we so passionately watch on television. Many of the anime that
is broadcasted in the United States is Japanese, so we get to see a little bit of their culture through
their drawings and through the way they portray things on those shows. The Japanese language is
intriguing, and I could love to learn it, it would make it easier to watch these shows without
having to read the subtitles. I, Coral, am one of those people who have always wanted to visit
Japan. Unfortunately, due to my lack of money and resources once I arrived in Japan, I became
acquainted with the wrong individuals and these individuals were involved in organized crime
deals. These individuals are the yakuza. So, now I am not only going to learn the language as I
had hoped but I will be experiencing their criminal justice system, hopefully I can defend myself
adequately and explain with the little Japanese I learned thus far.
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The Unites Stated and Japan have a good positive relationship today but that was not
always the case, they were on opposite ends of negotiations and attitudes during World War II.
The two nations do not have any current issues that could hinder the relationship between the
two as it pertains to my case. However, the laws are different, sociological differences are in
place as well as cultural differences (Ushiyama, 2019). The yakuza have been regarded as a
transcontinental organized crime group and there have been sanctions placed in an attempt to
reduce the relationship between the yakuza and possible affiliated in the United States.
Transnational crime acts are defined as an act that is profit motivated and where more than one
country is involved (Strompf, 2016). The United States and Japan have had issues with
transnational organized crime in the past.
The Japanese and English government have a very similar structure and many of the
countries out west seem to follow that same structure. Japan has a parliament, the Diet, is also
bipartisan like the English parliament and is made up of a House of Council and a House of
Representatives much like the United States (Terrill, 2016). Much like the English government,
the prime minister is an elected leader to serve their political party from the Diet (Terrill, 2016).
Japan has an emperor which is a symbolic position that holds very little power, but it remains a
cultural staple for the people much like the Monarchs are in England, King Charles. Japan has
the Meiji Constitution, which established the executive, legislative, and judicial branches as can
be seen in many western governments, including the United States (Terrill, 2016). Per Terrill,
Japan law is influenced by Anglo-American law due to World War II, but there are still heavy
traces of Romano Germanic legal customs still present. So, Japan has a mix of the old with the
new as they strive to keep their culture and customs intact.
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The Japanese court structure is made up of five courts that are distributed in a four-level
hierarchy. At the very top they have a Supreme Court, which is set to handle administrative and
judicial matters as described in the Court Organization Law and in the Showa Constitution
(Terrill, 2016). Below the Supreme Court sits the high courts, eight in total and each of these
courts have their own president and judges who listen to appeals based on family, district and
summary courts (Terrill, 2016). There are also fifty district courts, one per prefecture with three
courts in Hokkaido due to its humongous size. These courts are meant to handle criminal and
civil cases (Terrill, 2016). Family courts in Japan differ from other courts due to them only
handling delinquency cases and family affairs, it is their sole purpose. The last kind of courts are
summary courts, these courts are responsible for minor issues that do not require a trial and are
paired with a conciliation committee to handle issues where civil law is concerned (Terrill,
2016).
Organized crime is a category of transnational, national or local groups of centralized
enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. Organized crime is
different in that it is often hard to pinpoint. It is often camouflaged by the fact that there are legal
presences of the organization, but they commit illegal crimes. So, law enforcement must prove
that an organization that by law can be formed and perform is indeed breaking the law. There is
no law in place forbidding any affiliation with yazuka because the group is known as an
organization that is legally involved in many areas of Japan’s economy and politics (Baradel,
2021). The yakuza operate in a gray area between legal and illegal which makes it harder for law
enforcement to infiltrate. However, due to the way they operate they are able to infiltrate
businesses with very little risk. While it is not illegal to be a yakuza member, it is illegal to
willingly have any financial business with the yakuza. The yakuza have the power and are good
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at using their illegal activities to handle business in threatening and violent manners if necessary.
This often includes things like theft, money laundering, assault, etc. (Baradel, 2021).
Law enforcement has a real challenge when it comes to dealing with the yakuza due to
the never-ending changing definitions of what is illegal and what it is not. The yakuza know how
to handle business within the two. For example, certain things are legal in certain districts while
they are not in others such as prostitution depending on the district, like the red district in Tokyo
has its own set of rules. The power the yazuka operate in is in their ability to be invisible if
necessary and staying off police radar by masking their illegal activities with the legal so they
can easily show their presence in the community without getting into any real legal trouble.
The yakuza thrive because of their legal doings, if all they took part in was illegal, it
would be easier for law enforcement to enforce the law and tear down the empire they have built.
Fortunately for them, it is hard to take a whole organization down when they can hide behind the
legalities of their business. Because they know and have this knowledge, they have infiltrated
legal markets and have worked to establish a positive economic and political reputation. Even if
more than half of the organizations money is made through drug trades, as long as the yakuza has
a paper trail of legal activities, it will be hard to pinpoint the root of their money laundering
operation since they invest in things like real estate, hotels, restaurants and finance companies
which are all business that can earn lots of money (Baradel, 2021). Law enforcement struggles
to find accurate numbers depicting the true earning potential of the organization or even how in-
depth they are in the illegal acts of blackmail and extortion. Japan is working on legislation that
may hinder the operations on the yakuza, but this will only encourage them to find new ways to
operate and it will also assist new and less organized gangs to emerge which can in return cause
a rise in gang activity (Baradel, 2022).
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Due to my relations with the yakuza, I was taken in for questioning but because they
could not necessarily tie me to any real crime, I was let go. Being a member of the yakuza is not
a crime, they could not charge me with anything at the time. However, they did find that I had
some financial dealings with the yakuza, while they were not of big significance, they were able
to trace some money from the organization into my account and charged me with money
laundering which in Japan has a sentence of up to five years in prison or a fine (Yasaka, 2017).
Due to fear of retaliation, among other things, Japanese officials immediately ordered my release
and advised me to stay away from the yakuza because the next time I may not be so lucky. I was
ordered to pay a fine which was 100,000 yen since it was the first time that I was seen in
connection to the yakuza. I am a female and a foreigner thus I have no real place in the yakuza, I
am one of its lowest ranking members. The NPA and the yakuza have a symbiotic relationship
which balances the underworld in which the yakuza thrive by resisting arresting senior yakuza
members (Baradel, 2021).
The yakuza has learned how to be discreet and undetectable to law enforcement, they
keep their affairs tight and there is almost no trace of their involvement when they set out to do
things. Japan’s criminal proceedings are different from other countries in that it is illegal to plea
bargain (Terrill, 2016). If the scenario had played differently, I would have been arrested,
detained for 48 hours and then taken with a police report to what they refer to as the procurator’s
office. From that point forward, the procurator would decide if I should be held for another
twenty-four hours. If, after three days, the NPA wish to further detain me, they can for up to 10
days and this must be granted on the likelihood that I did commit a crime and granted by a judge.
This is so I do not destroy evidence, flee, etc. (Terrill, 2016). Extensions past the 10 days are rare
but possible up to twenty-three days during the investigation (Terrill, 2016).
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If I had not gotten lucky, I would have been detained as I waited for my trial on money
laundering charges because I am not a resident and would be considered a flight risk very much
so like the United States criminal justice system does depending on the severity of the crime.
This type of case is seen by a three-judge panel in the district courts since it is a complex case
dealing with organized crime and money laundering. The maximum prison sentence is five years
and due to being an outsider that would have been the guaranteed sentence, a maximum of five
years with a small fine.
Japanese prison institutions focus on deterrence, retribution, rehabilitation, and isolation
when necessary (Terrill, 2016). Much like the purpose why prisons were created in the United
States, they are meant to rehabilitate the offender so that they may enter society a changed person
and a functional member of that society. With a strong focus on reducing recidivism, Japan
passed the Act in Penal Detention Facilities and Treatment of Inmates and Detainees in 2007 to
offer education to inmates to help them reintegrate into society (Koda et al., 2015).This act was
passed to give offenders the help they needed through therapy, substance abuse aid/counseling as
well as training and skills to help with employment after incarceration much like our prisons
which offer a lot of those same things to help rehabilitate and introduce back to society.
Regrdless of all of these programs, the suicide rates in Japanese prisons are high and according
to Nakamura (2016) suicide prevention/responsibility does not fall within the Japanese prison
scope of work as their guards are not even trained to recognize the risks of suicide.
If I had gone to jail, I would have an awful time in a Japanese prison due to not being a
native. I would be shunned and looked down upon by other inmates as well as the workers
because I am some foreigner who came to their land to stir up trouble. There would be bias
throughout the whole prison system for my actions. While I do not believe I would become
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suicidal, I would struggle with my mental health within those four walls because isolation
whether purposeful or not can be very detrimental to one’s mental psyche. The differences in the
criminal justice system did not seem too bad until I realized that there are no plea deals which
could very well be used to reduce someone’s time in prison and bypass the whole court
proceeding. This comes to prove that while Japan is a safe country, it still has its problem areas
and currently, their criminal justice system struggles with getting a handle on organized crime
due to the constant change of their legalities. Japan is a contradiction because while they state the
business in which the yakuza partake is illegal, they also understand that those same businesses
fund their economy and keep society working as they should (Newsham, 2019).
Since this case is due to a criminal organization that is known to act violently, if
necessary, it would not be wise to speak in the court proceedings to attempt to get other members
in trouble. Regardless of my status as a foreigner who can return home after the sentence, it may
not be in my best interest to speak as my life could be in danger. Pleading guilty, accepting the
charges and the sentence seems to be the best way to go when dealing with the yakuza. Upon the
release from prison, an individual may still be in trouble because the yakuza members do not
know if you have spoken of their business deals while incarcerated so the best course of action is
to leave the country as soon as possible and cut off all ties with the yakuza.
We learn the differences between the western and eastern countries are not as huge as
initially anticipated. However, England holds the biggest influence over most countries as it
pertains to the way the system is set up and its hierarchy. Japan has a very functional criminal
justice system and very proud people who will uphold the system to protect its rich culture and
customs.
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As Christians, we are taught what is good and bad from the time that we can understand.
These teachings come in multiple ways and while we are constantly reminded that God loves us
regardless of what we do. We are also reminded that we must follow the law of the land. In this
particular case, the love for money clouded my better judgement and we cannot allow superficial
and materialistic things to hinder our spiritual being and our chances of a good afterlife. Greed is
a sin. Working to launder money is a sin because the reason for wanting to have large amounts of
money is rooted in greed. 1 Timothy 6:10 “for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It
is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves
with many pangs". Hebrews 13:5 states, “keep your life free from love of money, and be content
with what you have, for he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you”. We must learn and
trust that are not forgotten and that God will give us what we need, he will supply our needs, so
we do not need to fall into the temptations of the world. Temptations lead to wrong doings which
can lead to loss of freedom and God does not want us to lose our freedom, but he does give us
the power of choosing. We must make the right choices based on what his word dictates is
correct. We must lead a life of righteousness.
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