“Free at Last”, The Curious Case of Japan’s Longest-Serving Death Row Inmate

In a world where justice is meant to be blind, it seems it sometimes wears tinted glasses—especially in Japan. This week, the Japanese legal system released 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada, a man who’s been sitting on death row longer than most of us have been alive. Yes, you read that right—46 years. That’s almost half a century of solitary confinement, awaiting a gruesome death for a crime he didn’t commit. But why did it take Japan so long to realize they had the wrong guy?

The story starts way back in 1966, when a brutal murder took place in Shizuoka. Hakamada, a former professional boxer, was working at a miso processing plant when his employer, the man’s wife, and their two teenage children were found dead in a house fire, with stab wounds no less. The police pointed the finger at Hakamada, accusing him of murder, arson, and stealing 200,000 yen. Hakamada, naturally, denied the crime. But after some good old-fashioned police beatings and 12-hour daily interrogations, the boxer was forced to “confess.” If the punches didn’t knock him out, the system certainly did.

By 1968, the court found him guilty and sentenced him to death. And so began his endless wait for the hangman’s noose—46 years of it.

For decades, the Japanese legal system, often viewed as highly efficient (or so they say), overlooked glaring issues with the case. They pinned the murder on Hakamada based on some bloodstained clothes found in a miso tank a year after his arrest. I mean, who wouldn’t stash their bloody murder clothes in a soybean paste tank? Makes perfect sense. Except it didn’t. Hakamada’s defense team consistently argued that the DNA on the clothes didn’t match their client. But apparently, Japan was playing a game of ‘Who Wants to Be Convicted Without a Shred of Solid Evidence?’

It wasn’t until 2014 that a judge finally granted a retrial, citing something that should have been obvious from day one—the evidence was probably tampered with. The clothes, which prosecutors claimed had Hakamada’s blood, stayed bright red even after years soaking in miso. Forensics experts pointed out that blood should have turned black by then. It’s almost as if someone added the bloodstains later. Shocking, right? The judge thought so too, eventually leading to Hakamada’s release.

Despite this breakthrough, it took until *last week* for the court to officially clear him of the charges. His mental health had deteriorated so much that he couldn’t even attend the hearing. The man who once threw punches in a boxing ring had been fighting an invisible opponent for decades: the Japanese justice system.

While Hakamada’s case is finally over, it raises uncomfortable questions about Japan’s judicial practices. Why does a nation like Japan, part of the G7, still cling to capital punishment? And why do they notify death row inmates of their execution just hours before it happens? It’s as if they’re playing a twisted game of “Guess Who’s Dying Today.”

Hakamada’s release has been met with relief, particularly by his 91-year-old sister, Hideko, who fought tirelessly for her brother’s freedom. “Not guilty,” she said, was music to her ears after years of living with the weight of her brother’s wrongful conviction. But can any amount of vindication truly make up for 46 years of lost time?

In a system where evidence can be fabricated and justice can drag for nearly half a century, one has to wonder—how many more innocent people might be waiting on death row for a crime they didn’t commit?