Reiwa 6 (Wa) No. 950 Case

In April 2025, a South Korean tourist, Park Min-soo, was fatally stabbed in Tokyo's Shinjuku district by Takeshi Yamamoto, a Japanese man with a history of anti-Korean online posts. The attack occurred in broad daylight near a popular shopping street. Yamamoto was subdued by bystanders and arrested at the scene. Investigators found evidence of premeditation and xenophobic motives. The case was classified as docket "Reiwa 6 (Wa) No. 950" and quickly drew international attention due to its apparent hate-crime nature. The victim's family filed a civil claim through their representative, Park Ji-yeon. The trial focused on whether the murder was fueled by ethnic hatred, potentially invoking Japan's hate speech legislation.

The Tokyo District Court convicted Takeshi Yamamoto of murder and found that it was motivated by nationality-based hatred, a first under Japan's 2016 Hate Speech Act. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. The civil claim was settled separately with compensation to the victim's family.

Whether the murder constituted a hate crime under Japanese law, and whether the defendant's online rhetoric demonstrated clear ethnic animus that directly motivated the killing, versus a claim of diminished responsibility.

The case sparked widespread protests in South Korea and calls for stronger hate crime laws in Japan. It temporarily strained diplomatic relations, with Seoul demanding stronger protections for Korean residents and tourists. Japanese civil society groups used the case to advocate for more comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation, while some nationalist groups rallied around the defendant, causing further polarization. The trial set a legal precedent for recognizing hate crimes in Japan.