大竹メインディッシュ - 大竹まことゴールデンラジオ！currently outside the Japan top 100
【郷原信郎(青木理)】2026年10月22日 「特捜検察という名の権力ヤクザ 東京五輪談合事件・人質司法との死闘」（稲葉利彦／16歳女性衰弱死の母 国と兵庫県を提訴／パワハラ辞職の山中前横浜市長）
Former prosecutor and attorney Gobara Nobuo (郷原信郎) appeared in the studio with his new book, 'Tokusō Kensatsu to Iu Na no Kenryoku Yakuza' (Special Investigation Prosecutors: Power Yakuza by Another Name), to dissect Japan's entrenched hostage justice system. He examined three cases: the death in detention of a 16-year-old girl held for 18 days over a minor incident at a disability facility in Hyogo Prefecture, the 196-day detention of a Cerespo executive in a bid-rigging case tied to Tokyo Olympics test events, and the political fallout from former Yokohama Mayor Yamanaka Takeharu's (山中竹春) resignation over workplace harassment allegations.
What this episode answers
What went wrong in the Hyogo Prefecture case where a 16-year-old girl died after 18 days in detention?
The core problem, according to Gobara, was twofold: the alleged conduct was far too minor to justify detention in the first place, and the court issued the warrant without any meaningful review. The girl had simply placed her hand on another resident's jaw to prevent a bite at a disability care facility, yet was arrested and held for 18 days, during which she developed an eating disorder and died.
Are courts actually reviewing arrest and detention warrants?
Gobara flatly states that courts are not conducting substantive reviews, quoting a former prosecutor who called the courts 'vending machines'—approving arrest warrants, detention warrants, and search warrants whenever prosecutors say they are needed. In the Tokyo Olympics corruption case it later emerged that the criminal facts cited to justify detention did not actually constitute bribery, and in the bid-rigging case lower-court judges granted bail three times only to be overturned each time on immediate appeal by prosecutors.
How was Cerespo treated in the Tokyo Olympics test-event bid-rigging case, and what really happened?
For Cerespo, the raids came as a complete shock; the organizing committee had simply asked companies to participate in bids and each firm responded with the events it specialized in, with zero negotiation over profit-sharing among vendors. The Special Investigation Division nonetheless charged this as bid-rigging, and the company's managing director had five bail applications rejected and was held for 196 days; both the first-instance court and the appeals court returned guilty verdicts, and the case is currently before the Supreme Court.
Why is the 'hostage justice' structure—where refusing to confess prolongs detention—never corrected?
The structural distortion is illustrated by the contrast between the organizing committee's deputy director—who confessed on a lawyer's advice and was released immediately—and the Cerespo executive who refused to confess and was held for 196 days. Even defense attorneys sometimes advise clients to confess to secure an earlier release, and because former prosecutors turned defense lawyers tend to have personal connections inside the prosecution, they often negotiate leniency rather than fight, which allows prosecutorial overreach to continue unchecked.
Which political parties does Gobara hold responsible over former Yokohama Mayor Yamanaka's harassment-driven resignation?
Gobara names the Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP), which backed Yamanaka in the 2021 election despite credible harassment allegations, and the Yokohama chapter of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which supported his re-election last year despite the harassment issue being well known inside city hall.
The Death of a 16-Year-Old in Detention: 'Zero' Warrant Review
At a disability care facility in Kobe, a 16-year-old resident placed her hand on another resident's jaw to stop them from biting her. She was arrested and detained for that act. Eighteen days into her confinement she developed an eating disorder and died.
Gobara was unsparing: 'She held someone's jaw to prevent a bite. There is absolutely no basis to arrest and detain someone for that. It is completely outside the bounds of normal conduct.' The problem operates on two levels. First, the alleged offense was so minor that there was no legitimate need for detention. Second, once the girl maintained her innocence, detention was extended under the familiar logic of hostage justice. 'If you know the law, you just keep saying you didn't do it, because you didn't,' Gobara said. 'But a 16-year-old girl couldn't keep up with that.'
Equally troubling is the fact that a court issued the detention warrant at all. Gobara quoted a former prosecutor who described the courts as 'vending machines': request a warrant—arrest, detention, or search—and the court approves it. The Tokyo Olympics corruption case provided a concrete illustration: the criminal facts cited to justify holding suspects in the Tokyo Detention House were later found not to constitute bribery at all, yet no judge caught the error.
The Tokyo Olympics Test-Event Bid-Rigging Case: A 'Crime' with No Crime
In November 2022, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Special Investigation Division, acting alongside the Japan Fair Trade Commission, raided Cerespo—a comprehensive event management company—alongside Dentsu and others over suspected bid-rigging related to Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics test events.
For Cerespo's staff, Gobara says, it was 'a bolt from the blue.' They had worked through the pandemic and pulled off the games without spectators; the raids arrived in the middle of their relief.
What actually happened was this: the test-event program covered a vast range of sports, each requiring experienced operators. The organizing committee approached companies individually and asked them to enter bids for events that matched their expertise. Companies responded according to their specialties. There were no negotiations among vendors over dividing profits. The Special Investigation Division called it bid-rigging.
Prosecutors had initially aimed at the Act on Elimination and Prevention of Involvement in Bid Rigging under the assumption of public-works contracts, but when the organizing committee turned out to be a private corporation, that route closed. 'At that point they should have stopped,' Gobara said. 'They didn't.' Prosecutors pivoted to the Antimonopoly Act—specifically the prohibition on unreasonable restraint of trade—and pressed ahead.
'Cerespo's employees never understood what the crime was supposed to be, right to the very end.' Because managing director Kamata could not admit to something he did not understand, he refused to confess, had five bail applications rejected, and spent 196 days in detention. On the three occasions lower-court judges approved bail, prosecutors filed immediate appeals and had each ruling overturned.
The organizing committee's deputy director on the issuing side, advised by his lawyer, admitted to the allegations and was released at once. That confession gave the case its shape. Both the first-instance court and the appeals court returned guilty verdicts on the theory that entering a bid at the organizing committee's request, while expecting other companies to do the same, constituted bid-rigging. The case is now before the Supreme Court. 'The only court capable of properly understanding Antimonopoly Act reasoning is the Supreme Court,' Gobara said.
Why Hostage Justice Persists: The Role of Former-Prosecutor Defense Lawyers
Gobara points to a structural incentive that entrenches the problem. Former prosecutors turned defense attorneys—known in Japan as yameken (ヤメ検)—retain personal connections inside the prosecution. That makes them inclined to broker deals rather than fight, telling clients 'admit it and they'll go easy on you.' When a client refuses to confess, detention can stretch to a year or two, costing them their job and family. Faced with that reality, 'admitting is better for the client' becomes standard advice, and the prosecution's overreach faces no resistance.
Gobara has consistently refused to follow that pattern, choosing to fight in Cerespo's case as well. He concluded: 'Confession makes sense when the criminal facts are clear. In a case where no one can even identify what the crime is, holding someone for nearly 200 days with the sole objective of forcing a capitulation to the Special Investigation Division—that is the world of power yakuza.'
Former Yokohama Mayor Yamanaka: 'Who Carried Him to Office?'
Gobara says he received information from people close to the case before the 2021 Yokohama mayoral election that then-professor and vice president of Yokohama City University Yamanaka Takeharu had engaged in serious workplace harassment, and actively campaigned against his election. Yamanaka won regardless, and was re-elected in last year's mayoral race.
Gobara called the resignation 'the natural outcome,' but directed his criticism at the political forces behind it. The Constitutional Democratic Party backed Yamanaka in 2021, selling him as an expert on the IR casino issue and COVID response. The Yokohama chapter of the Liberal Democratic Party, despite knowing that harassment allegations had become a serious internal issue at City Hall, declined to field a rival candidate and effectively supported his re-election last year.
'Both sides are behaving as if they won this election—that is completely wrong. What about last year's responsibility? A by-election is now costing 1.5 billion yen in public funds. They owe citizens an apology and genuine reflection,' Gobara said.
On Yamanaka's successor, Harasawa (原沢), Gobara noted an unusual background—from aircraft maintenance technician to lawyer—and said his post-election press conference left a positive impression, while raising concerns about his lack of political experience and the possibility he could be 'easily manipulated within entrenched interest structures.'
Takeaways
- In both the 16-year-old's death and the Tokyo Olympics bid-rigging case, courts functioned as rubber stamps—approving warrants without substantive review and overturning bail grants on prosecutorial appeals—allowing serious harm to go unchecked.
- The Cerespo bid-rigging case involved zero profit-sharing negotiations between vendors and stemmed entirely from the organizing committee soliciting bid participation, yet a managing director was held for 196 days without ever understanding what crime he was supposed to have committed.
- Gobara holds both the CDP, which nominated Yamanaka for the 2021 race, and the Yokohama LDP chapter, which backed his re-election last year despite known harassment allegations, jointly responsible for the 1.5-billion-yen by-election cost and demands a public apology from both.
This article is edited from a machine transcript of the first 30 minutes of the episode. It is not an official summary — please listen to the episode itself.