Collision Course

 

11

JUSTICE JAPAN STYLE

Carlos Ghosn and Greg Kelly would not be the only defendants in the Nissan affair. Japan’s judicial system was also in the dock, with the case bringing an uncomfortable spotlight on a legal system that even the Japan Federation of Bar Associations has derided as “hostage justice.” It is a system where prosecutors wield much of the power and acquittals are rare.

The judiciary, like the rest of the Japanese government, is based on its constitution written in 1947 by a team of 24 US civilian and military experts during the postwar occupation. It creates, at least on paper, an American-style adversarial system in which the Public Prosecutors Office and defense lawyers argue before an impartial judge. But in a country ...