Oh, please, can we dispense with the uninformed pseudo-truisms and stereotypes combined with unjustified extrapolation? Why is it that Japan always gets the “just musing here” treatment so much more than other countries?
AFAIK, the OP is right: the death penalty is applied as he says. It’s not very “nice.” On the other hand, the death penalty is not used very much in Japan, usually for only quite heinous cases.
There are no jury trials in the Japan legal system, but before we get into how “tough” the system there is (as in “tough shit for you”), people often complain about how wishy-wishy the system there is, since a life term usually means people are out pretty quickly (I have read an average of 18 years, but that was a while back).
My point is not to lecture on the system there; I am far from an expert. But I know enough not to glibly characterize the system there as “tough.”
As far as “going back to the islands,” a Japanese person wouldn’t say that. “Nihon ni kaeru” or “go back to Japan” would be the typical way of putting it. Japan is sometimes referred to as a “shimaguni” (island nation), often in talking about its past/current isolation, but the sense of it being a chain of islands is not often considered or expressed.
Not to pick on bizzwire, but I’ve noticed this tendency as well. I think it happens with Japan more than most other countries largely because of Japan’s exposure in the US and the number of threads started about it, not to mention that a fair number of the “pseudo-truisms and stereotypes” are perpetuated by uninformed Japanese themselves. But it’s certainly not limited to threads about Japan… Collounsbury drove himself over the edge because of what he perceived as a similar problem regarding the Middle East, and I’ve noticed threads where lawyers stepped in to try to fight uniformed, innaccurate legal advice.
Such as Hayashi Masumi (just wanted to toss her name out because I taught at the elementary school in the area where she did her poisoning.)
I’m going to quote a passage from “Sheathing the Sword of Justice in Japan: An Essay on Law Without Sanctions,” an interesting article by John Haley. The article is more related to civil matters and is a little old, but I think it’s still relevent regarding the “toughness” and character of the Japanese criminal system.
To directly address bizzwire’s suggestion, I haven’t really noticed the Japanese having more of a tendency of assuming that “if you’re arrested, you’re guilty” than the American public does. I have noticed that many Japanese (that I’ve spoken to, at least) seem to regard their police as incompetent, which would seem to work against that tendency. In any case, of course, those on death row have not merely been arrested, but convicted as well. I imagine that the vast majority of Americans assume that someone convicted of a crime was guilty of that crime.
Sorry to offend your finer sensibilities, mate. I must have missed the memo which stated that informed opinions are no longer permissible. Which “pseudo truisms” exactly were you railing against? The cited State department figure on confession rates, or my view that the average Japanese assumes someone who has been arrested and/or confessed is probably guilty? Read it again; I didn’t claim the judicial system was saying “tough shit for you,” I was saying that, as far as the average Yoshi, Toshi, or Machi is concerned, if someone gets hung without due process, well, “tough shit.” (note- admittedly painting with a wide brush)
This “pseudo-truism” was forged from conversations with my co-workers and observations I made while a sararii-man at Mitsubishii-Yuka in Tokyo (Where I was responsible for developing steroid-abuse testing methods), as well as conversations with and comments by my Japanese wife of 21 years.
I realize that this does not make me an expert, hence the weasel words which you found so irritating. I thought I had a valid viewpoint. Not as arresting, say, as a discussion on the fact that Japan consist of several islands, but something I thought (mistakenly, evidently) worth bringing up. I promise that I will only stick to empirical, peer-reviewed facts in the future, if you will do the same. Otherwise, please feel free to be blowing it out your honorable bottom-hole.