Each week, here at Osaka.com, we bring you a selection of some of the top stories about Osaka making the local and national news here in Japan. Sometimes it’s serious, sometimes it’s funny, but it’s always direct to you, from Osaka.
Shinzo Abe Murder Suspect Appears at First Court Hearing
Osaka’s most high-profile prison detainee, Tetsuya Yamagami, this week learned the timeline for his upcoming murder trial.
Yamagami could face the death penalty over his 2022 assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe.
The suspect admitted to the crime, and seemingly shows no remorse for his actions. Despite these factors, this is not the open-and-shut case that some commentators allege it to be.
Yamagami’s upbringing, particularly his mother’s fixation on a religious cult, is set to play a key role in the final determination of a verdict in this case.
Abe Assassin Enters Guilty Plea, Cites Unification Church as Motivation
The exact link between Former PM Abe and The Unification Church, a religious cult known for aggressive financial exploitation of its members, remains unclear. However, several members of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party have been proven to have ties to the organization.
Abe’s own grandfather, another former Prime Minister, Nobusuke Kishi, played a key role in helping the South Korea-based church gain a foothold in Japan shortly after it’s formation in 1954.
A separate legal ruling this week called for the Unification Church to be formally dissolved. However the church, expectedly, appealed this decision.
Yamagami’s account of how he came to target Abe is a tragic tale, but it remains to be seen if it will help his case or not.
Yamagami’s mother became withdrawn following the sudden passing of Yamagami’s father in 1984. Such a vulnerable, lonely, yet affluent individual is a prime target for groups like the Unification Church. She joined the organization in 1991. In the years that followed she donated more than 100 million Yen (approximately 650,000 US dollars) to the church, leaving her family destitute in the process.
Driven to despair by these events Yamagami himself attempted suicide in 2005. His older brother took his own life ten years later.
Abe Assassin’s Mother to Testify as a Witness
With this in mind, Yamagami’s mother’s testimony in the trial is expected to play a pivotal role in deciding his fate. Yamagami said that killing Abe would “draw attention and criticism” to the Unification Church and its backers in the LDP.
However, prosecutors have responded that such grudges are not a justification for cold-blooded killing. They say the public assassination of a man only tangentially connected to the individuals that the accused says he held a personal grudge against is “unprecedented” in post-war Japan. They added that the defendant’s upbringing, however challenging cannot be used to argue for a lighter sentence.
This case, and the wider debate around Japan’s very loose regulation of financially predatory religious organizations will continue to grab headlines for the next few months, and perhaps even beyond the delivery of the Judge’s verdict on January 26th 2026.
Osaka Court Rejects Election Validation Challenge
Meanwhile, in other political news, the Osaka High Court ruled this week that the results of this summer’s Upper House election are, indeed, constitutional and valid.
Plaintiffs from Osaka, Nara and Hyogo had challenged the validity of the results. A vote-weighting disparity means that voters in Osaka had only 34% of the voting power of some rural voters elsewhere in Japan.
This is due largely to the somewhat bloated number of seats in the Japanese parliament, and the far larger number of rural constituencies compared to urban ones.
However, this is not the end of the matter. High courts in several other jurisdictions across Japan will rule on similar cases in the coming months. This will all probably end up before Japan’s Supreme Court eventually.
Also, the publicity generated by the case adds further strength to a key demand from the Osaka-based Japan Innovation Party. They want to reduce the current number of seats in parliament by at least 10%.
Although now in a loose coalition with the JIP, the governing LDP and new prime minister Sanae Takaichi are said to be resistant to any change in the status quo. As Japan’s demographics change, the LDP depends more and more on rural, older voters to maintain their grip on power.
This is another story that could drag on for quite a while yet.
And Finally…
Osaka’s gamers got a Halloween treat this week. Chuo Ward based publisher Capcom revealed the pre-order details and a new, terrifying trailer for the upcoming Resident Evil Requiem. This is the ninth mainline entry in the series known as Biohazard in Japan.
Additionally, the 7th and 8th entries in the series that began back in 1996 will also receive new, feature rich ports to the recently released Nintendo Switch 2 console. These will launch alongside Resident Evil Requiem on February 27th next year.
That’s all for now but be sure to check back again same time next week for another round of this week in Osaka!
