Criminal Procedure in Japan – A Guide for Foreign Nationals
Overview: What You Need to Know First
Criminal procedure in Japan is fundamentally different from that of the United States, Europe, and most other countries. Assumptions carried over from your home country’s system – about bail, about lawyers attending interrogations, about plea deals – can lead to serious missteps. The starting point is to understand that you are dealing with a different system.
What matters most is how you respond to interrogation in the period immediately after arrest. This early response often determines the outcome of the entire case – and handling it properly requires a defense lawyer at your side from the start. If you or a family member is arrested in Japan, contact a lawyer as soon as possible.
I. The Investigation Stage
1. Cases With and Without Detention
Criminal cases in Japan proceed on one of two tracks: cases in which the suspect is arrested and held in custody (detention cases), and cases in which the suspect remains at liberty (at-home cases). In an at-home case, you continue your daily life and attend questioning by the police or the prosecutor when summoned. An at-home case is by no means a minor matter – the investigation proceeds all the same, and it can end in indictment. The next section explains how detention cases proceed.
2. How a Detention Case Proceeds
After arrest, the police may hold you for up to 48 hours before referring the case to the public prosecutor. The prosecutor then has 24 hours to decide whether to ask a judge to detain you. If the judge grants detention, you will be held for 10 days, and on the prosecutor’s application the judge may extend this by up to 10 further days. There is no bail before indictment, so you can be held for up to 23 days for each allegation – usually in a detention cell at a police station – before the prosecutor decides whether to indict you.
At each of these stages, your defense lawyer can press for release: submitting a written opinion urging the prosecutor not to request detention, arguing to the judge that detention is unnecessary, and filing an objection against a detention order once made. It must be said, however, that for a foreign national without a fixed residence in Japan, courts readily find a risk of flight, and securing release at this stage is difficult in practice – which makes early, experienced defense work all the more important.
3. Interrogation
In Japan, defense lawyers are not, as a rule, allowed to be present during interrogation. In detention cases it is simply not permitted. Even in at-home cases, if you ask for your lawyer to sit in, investigators will often respond that they will not conduct the interview at all – so in practice, attendance of counsel is rarely achievable.
Precisely because your lawyer cannot sit beside you, deciding on a strategy with your lawyer before the interrogation is critically important. In a detention case, this is done through the lawyer’s visits at the detention facility; in an at-home case, through meetings with your lawyer beforehand.
In an at-home case, attending questioning is itself voluntary; whether to attend at all is a decision to make with your lawyer. In a detention case, the prevailing view is that a detained suspect is obliged to submit to interrogation – even so, there are situations in which refusing to go to the interrogation room makes it possible, as a practical matter, to decline questioning.
If you do undergo interrogation, the key decisions are whether to remain silent or to speak, and, if you speak, whether to sign the written statement prepared by the investigator. Each of these is a decision to be made in consultation with your lawyer. Refusing to cooperate can carry its own disadvantages in some situations – which is exactly why consulting an experienced criminal defense lawyer before and throughout the interrogation process is essential.
4. Written Statements
At the end of an interrogation session, the investigator will prepare a written statement (chosho) summarizing – in Japanese, in the investigator’s words – what you are recorded as having said. You will be asked to sign it. This document is critically important: a signed statement, especially one taken by a prosecutor, is powerful evidence at trial and is very difficult to retract later.
You are entitled to refuse to sign, and to request corrections before signing. If any part of the statement does not accurately reflect what you said, do not sign it. If you cannot read Japanese, an interpreter will read the statement to you before you sign, but the oral translation is not recorded and no translated text is attached, so there is no reliable way to verify its accuracy in court afterwards.
Never sign a statement because the police or prosecutor suggest that you will be released, receive only a fine, or avoid indictment if you do. Investigators have no authority to promise any of these outcomes. If you have already signed such a statement, tell your lawyer immediately.
5. Visits and Deliveries
While you are detained, your family can generally visit you once a day on weekdays during business hours. Visits are short – around 15 to 20 minutes – and a police officer will be present. The conversation must be conducted in a language the officer can understand; if you wish to speak in your own language, an interpreter arranged by your family may need to attend. In cases involving accomplices or a risk of evidence tampering, the court may prohibit visits and correspondence altogether. Even then, your defense lawyer can still visit you – a lawyer’s visits are not limited in frequency or duration, are not monitored, and may be conducted in any language.
Family members cannot bring food or medicine into the detention facility. They can deposit money with which you can buy items from the facility’s list, and they can deliver certain clothing and books. If you need prescription medication, tell the officers and, without fail, your lawyer – the facility can arrange examination by a doctor, and your lawyer can press for necessary treatment.
6. Hiring a Defense Lawyer
You can appoint a private defense lawyer at any time, before or after arrest. If you are arrested and cannot afford one, you may ask for the duty lawyer (toban bengoshi) service, under which a lawyer from the local bar association visits you once free of charge. Once you are detained, you are entitled to a court-appointed defense lawyer if you cannot afford private counsel.
What a defense lawyer does in the first days is decisive: visiting you without restriction and advising you before each interrogation, communicating with your family and employer, gathering information about the allegation, negotiating with the victim, and pressing for early release. If you want reports in your own language and smooth communication throughout the case, one available option is to appoint an English-speaking lawyer with substantial criminal defense experience.
7. Settlement with the Victim
In cases with an identifiable victim – assault, theft, fraud, sexual offenses and the like – reaching an out-of-court settlement (jidan) with the victim is one of the most important things the defense can do. A settlement typically involves a sincere apology and payment of compensation, and may include the victim’s statement that he or she does not wish the suspect to be punished.
A settlement does not automatically end the case: whether to indict is always the prosecutor’s decision. But its practical effect is very large. At the investigation stage, a settlement often leads the prosecutor to suspend prosecution, meaning you are released without trial and without a criminal record in Japan. After indictment, a settlement is a major factor in favor of a suspended sentence or a lighter penalty.
The investigating authorities will not give the victim’s contact details to you or your family. In practice, only a defense lawyer can obtain them – on the condition that they are not disclosed to the suspect – and negotiate on your behalf. Victims who would never meet the suspect will often agree to speak with the suspect’s lawyer.
8. The Prosecutor’s Decision: Non-Indictment and Indictment
Before the detention period expires, the prosecutor decides how to dispose of the case. The prosecutor first examines whether the evidence is sufficient to prove guilt. If it is not, the case ends in non-indictment for insufficient evidence. If the evidence is sufficient, indictment is the general rule – but depending on the gravity of the offense, the degree of remorse, a settlement with the victim, and other circumstances, the prosecutor may nevertheless decline to charge you by way of suspension of prosecution (kiso yuyo).
Indictment itself takes two forms: a formal indictment leading to a public trial, and – for minor offenses, and only if you do not object – a summary order, in which a court imposes a fine of up to one million yen on the papers without a trial.
Japan introduced a cooperation-based agreement system in 2018, under which a suspect may receive favorable treatment in exchange for cooperating with the investigation of another person’s case in certain categories of offenses, such as economic and drug-related crimes. In practice it is almost never used – only about five cases have become publicly known since its introduction. There is no American-style plea bargaining in Japan under which you can negotiate your own charge or sentence in exchange for a guilty plea.
II. The Trial Stage
1. Bail
Bail becomes available for the first time after indictment. The court considers, among other things, the risk of flight and of evidence tampering. For a foreign national, the absence of a fixed residence or a guarantor in Japan makes courts more inclined to find a flight risk – so, if anything, the hurdle for bail is higher than for Japanese defendants.
Obtaining bail in a foreign national’s case therefore takes planning: securing a monthly apartment to serve as a fixed residence, having the defense lawyer hold the passport, and arranging family members or acquaintances as guarantors, so that the court’s concerns are addressed one by one. This is an area where the defense lawyer’s experience with foreign-national cases makes a real difference. Where bail is granted, conditions such as residence requirements and prohibition of contact with victims or witnesses are usually attached.
In serious cases such as homicide or commercial drug importation, however, bail is often denied outright, because the risk of flight cannot be ruled out. Whether bail is realistically available in your particular case is something you should discuss with your defense lawyer.
2. Trial Proceedings
Criminal trials are held in public before professional judges. For serious or contested cases, a pretrial conference procedure is often used to organize the issues and evidence before the first hearing. If you do not speak Japanese, the court appoints an interpreter at no cost to you.
At the first hearing, the charge is read, you are asked whether you admit or contest it, and the prosecution presents its evidence. In a straightforward case in which the defendant admits the charge, the trial may be completed in a single hearing of one to two hours, with judgment delivered a few weeks later. Contested cases involve witness examinations over multiple hearings and take considerably longer. Throughout the trial you are presumed innocent, and the prosecution bears the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
3. Lay Judge Trials
The most serious crimes – those punishable by death or life imprisonment, and intentional crimes that caused a victim’s death – are tried under the saiban-in (lay judge) system, in which a panel of three professional judges and six citizens decides both guilt and sentence. Commercial importation of stimulants, one of the most typical serious cases involving foreign nationals, is tried under this system.
In lay judge cases, the pretrial conference procedure takes a long time – six months to a year before the first hearing is not unusual, largely because disclosure of evidence by the prosecution takes time. The hearings themselves are then held in a concentrated, consecutive schedule. Your lawyer should give you a realistic timeline, including how custody will be handled during this period.
4. Admitting or Contesting the Charge
Japan’s conviction rate for indicted cases is often quoted as over 99 percent. This figure is real, but it must be understood correctly: prosecutors in Japan indict only when conviction is virtually certain, and screen out weaker cases at the investigation stage. It does not mean that the trial is a formality – it means that the crucial battles are often fought before indictment, and that when a case is contested at trial, the defense must be prepared to a very high standard.
If you admit the charge, the defense focuses on mitigation: settlement with the victim, restitution, your personal circumstances, family support, and concrete plans to prevent reoffending, all directed toward a suspended sentence or the lightest possible penalty. If you contest the charge, the defense challenges the prosecution’s evidence through cross-examination, presents counter-evidence, and argues for acquittal. Acquittals are rare but they do occur, and experienced defense counsel makes a measurable difference.
5. Judgment and Sentencing
If you are convicted, the court imposes a sentence in the same judgment. The principal penalties are imprisonment and fines. As a result of a reform that took effect in June 2025, the former two categories of imprisonment (with and without required labor) have been unified into a single form of imprisonment (kokin-kei).
Where the sentence is imprisonment of three years or less, the court may suspend its execution for a period of one to five years. If you complete the suspension period without further offense, you do not go to prison. In many cases in which the defendant admits the charged facts, a suspended sentence is the realistic goal of the defense, and factors such as settlement, restitution, remorse, and a stable environment weigh heavily in obtaining one.
6. Appeals
If you disagree with the judgment, you may appeal (koso) to the High Court. The appeal must be filed within 14 days counted from the day after the judgment is pronounced; if the deadline passes, the judgment becomes final. The appellate court does not retry the case from scratch – it reviews the first-instance judgment for errors such as unreasonable fact-finding, legal error, and unduly harsh sentencing, based primarily on the trial record. New evidence is admitted only in limited circumstances, so an appeal requires careful, specialized preparation of the written statement of grounds. A further appeal (jokoku) to the Supreme Court is available only on narrow grounds such as constitutional violations. The prosecution can also appeal, including against an acquittal.
III. Special Issues for Foreign Nationals
1. Immigration Consequences and Deportation
A criminal case in Japan can affect your immigration status independently of the criminal sentence. In broad terms, a foreign national sentenced to imprisonment for more than one year becomes deportable unless the sentence is fully suspended; and for drug offenses, any conviction is a ground for deportation regardless of the sentence. For certain visa categories, convictions for particular offenses such as theft or violent crimes can also lead to deportation even where the sentence is suspended. The rules are technical and depend on your residence status, so you should have your lawyer assess the immigration consequences of every possible outcome – including a fine by summary order – before deciding how to respond to the charge.
2. Immigration Detention, Provisional Release, and Special Permission to Stay
If your period of stay has expired – for example, because your visa ran out while you were detained – you may be transferred to the custody of the Immigration Services Agency after the criminal case ends or after you are released on bail. Release from immigration detention may be granted in the form of provisional release, on a deposit of up to three million yen. Even where grounds for deportation exist, the Minister of Justice may grant special permission to stay, taking into account factors such as family members lawfully residing in Japan. A lawyer can apply and argue for both.
3. Consular Assistance
Under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, if you are detained you have the right to have your country’s consulate notified of your detention, and consular officers may visit you and communicate with you. The consulate cannot get you released or interfere in the case, but it can help contact your family, suggest lists of lawyers and interpreters, and monitor your treatment. Tell the police at the time of arrest if you wish your consulate to be notified.
4. Interpreters and Translation
You have the right to interpretation at every important stage: the police and prosecutors provide interpreters for interrogations, and the court appoints a trial interpreter free of charge. In practice, however, the quality of interpretation can vary, and as noted above, written statements are recorded only in Japanese. If you have any doubt that you are being understood – or that you understand what you are being asked to sign – say so clearly and inform your lawyer.
