Exoneree Calls for Retrial System Reform After Acquittal; Help Sought from Sister of Acquitted Death Row Inmate

The Yomiuri Shimbun

1:00 JST, July 23, 2025

A man acquitted on Friday of the 1986 murder of a teenage girl in a retrial expressed a strong commitment to reforming Japan’s retrial system.

Shoshi Maekawa, 60, was sentenced to seven years in prison for the murder of a junior high school student, a crime for which he consistently asserted his innocence.

He is now appealing for help from Hideko Hakamata, the 92-year-old sister of 89-year-old Iwao Hakamata, who in a retrial was acquitted of the 1966 murder of a family in Shizuoka Prefecture. Maekawa spoke with Hideko in an online call from his home in Fukui on Monday. He reported the news of his acquittal and asked for her “cooperation in bringing about a review of the retrial system.”

In January, Maekawa visited Hideko’s home in Hamamatsu and was given a blue hat belonging to Iwao. Maekawa wore that hat on the day of his verdict at the Kanazawa branch of the Nagoya High Court.

“Thanks to the hat’s protection, I was acquitted,” Maekawa told Hideko during the online call.

Hideko happily responded, “That’s truly wonderful.”

Issues remain in Japan’s retrial system, including a lack of legal obligation to disclose evidence. “We can’t let this end here,” Maekawa stressed. “We need to connect it to a review of the system.”

Referring to a draft to revise the Criminal Procedure Code jointly submitted to the House of Representatives by six opposition parties, Hideko said, “I want to see the debate gain serious momentum and [the law] enacted in the Diet session in autumn.”

“Hideko is a close companion; we both share the same aspirations,” Maekawa told reporters after the online call. “I’m glad I could report this news to her.”