UPCOMING RELEASES
True Crime Japan: Thieves, Rascals, Killers and Dope Heads: True Stories from a Japanese Courtroom
Author: Paul Murphy
There has never been a book like this in Poland!
Irish journalist Paul Murphy spent a year attending court hearings in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture. In his reportage, True Crime Japan, he describes selected cases that were held before the judges: a failed extended suicide, shoplifting performed by an octogenarian, the shady dealings of a yakuza member, and matricide. The author strives to present the broadest possible picture of the situation in each case, compiling interviews with police, family, and neighbors, and presenting it against a broader social backdrop.
True Crime Japan is not only a description of the crimes and atrocities themselves, but also—or perhaps above all—a pervasive image of Japanese society, where theft is considered less shameful than applying for social assistance, where death seems the only honorable way out of a spiral of debt, and where, in the eyes of the public, the most important element of atonement for the guilty is a public apology, not only from the guilty party but also from their family. It's also a fascinating window into the Japanese justice system, into the procedures for investigations, trials, and enforcement of sentences, including the most serious ones.
Release date: February 2026


