From Iwao Hakamata’s Letters

The odds were always stacked against Iwao Hakamata.Prosecutors in Japan have a 99-percent conviction rate for individuals charged with crimes. And for inmates who insist they are innocent, getting a court to grant a retrial has been extremely rare.

Hakamata, 88, is also fighting against time to clear his name. He was recognized by Guinness World Records as the longest serving death row inmate. Consistently maintaining his innocence, the former professional boxer kept writing to his family following his arrest in the 1960s through the 1990s, after his death sentence was finalized.

In 2014, a district court accepted Hakamata’s motion for a retrial, citing the possibility that key evidence against him had been fabricated.The court also ordered Hakamata’s release, ending his incarceration spanning more than 47 years.

However, the time on death row took a heavy toll on his mental condition. For his retrial, which started in 2023, Hakamata is not required to appear in court because he was deemed mentally unfit to give credible testimony. His thousands of letters are now invaluable testimonials about his life behind bars, revealing a roller-coaster ride of emotions, from hopefulness to despair, and the decline in his mental health.

The letters were published here after permission was granted from his sister, Hideko, who received and stored them.

Aug. 18, 1966: Hakamata is arrested. He initially denies the allegations but “confesses” on the 19th day after his arrest. Police questionings last an average 12 hours a day.

Nov. 15, 1966: Hakamata denies the charges in the first hearing of his trial, saying, “I did not do it at all.”

I am innocent

About the charges against him

They looked somewhat similar to my clothes

About new evidence presented by the prosecution

Sept. 11, 1968: The Shizuoka District Court sentences Hakamata to death, recognizing the bloodstained clothes were worn by Hakamata during the attack.

Misunderstanding of facts

On his intention to appeal his death sentence

The clothing looks unlikely to fit me

Nov. 17, 1968: Hakamata’s mother dies, but it is kept secret from him for months.

Mother appeared in my dream

About his concerns for his mother’s well-being

Unending fear of execution

Hatred is what sustains me

On his mother’s death

I went along with police to protect my life

Explaining why he “confessed”

May 18, 1976: The Tokyo High Court rejects Hakamata’s appeal.The bloodstained trousers do not fit him when he tries them on at court hearings. But the court concludes the clothes are too small because they shrank while soaked in miso and Hakamata had gained weight after he was incarcerated.

We are not asking to take black and call it white

Nov. 19, 1980: The Supreme Court denies Hakamata’s appeal, finalizing his death sentence

A classic example of a miscarriage of justice

What are the law and the trial for?

On his intent to request a retrial

After his death sentence is finalized, Hakamata shows signs of declining mental health.

I am innocent!

The difficulty of loving your neighbor

On getting baptized in prison

Dec. 24, 1984: Hakamata is baptized Catholic in prison.

I have been given the Christian name Paul

Full disclosure of evidence will correct a miscarriage of justice

On the disclosure of evidence at a trial

The devil must be taking me

On the curbs on correspondence and a life of death row inmates

Falling in the trap of wrongful conviction

Today is Christmas Eve

On his despair over his death sentence

It is too late to start over with life

Rescue me from the gallows

Japan practices execution by hanging

Devil’s radio waves

Part of his letter is indecipherable due to poor handwriting

Mr. Rubin Carter, Congratulations!

On a U.S. boxer who was wrongfully accused

March 27, 2014
December 2015
December 2015
December 2015
February 2016
December 2015
December 2015

Hakamata refuses to meet Hideko. His correspondence becomes infrequent. When he does write to her, he just asks for goods.

In 2008, the Supreme Court denies Hakamata’s first motion for a retrial, filed in 1981, upholding the rulings by the Shizuoka District Court and the Tokyo High Court.

Hakamata’s defense team files a second motion for a retrial. The prosecution discloses color photos of the five bloodstained clothing items. The disclosure comes after the defense’s repeated requests and the urging by the Shizuoka District Court. The photos reveal the color of the clothing and the bloodstains, raising doubts about the evidence’s credibility.

And…

17,388 day after his arrest

Retrial granted and Hakamata released

March 27, 2014 The Shizuoka District Court grants a retrial for Hakamata, citing the possibility that the five clothing items used as evidence had been fabricated.

The court also orders a stay of execution and releases him, 48 years after his arrest. Hakamata is 78.

The Tokyo High Court, which reviewed Hakamata’s case after it was sent back by the Supreme Court, also grants a retrial for Hakamata in March 2023. The high court says it is “highly likely” that investigative authorities fabricated the clothing evidence.

20,889 day after his arrest

Hakamata’s retrial opens.

Oct. 27, 2023, Hakamata’s retrial opens at the Shizuoka District Court. The prosecution insists on his guilt and says the allegation that evidence was fabricated is baseless.

Hakamata is now 88. He lives with his sister, Hideko, 91, in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture.

His symptoms of institutional psychosis continue. It is difficult to start a normal conversation with him. When he does write, he is said to scribble down “I am God” and other things that do not make sense.

Hideko wants her brother to be cleared soon. “He does not have much time left,” she says. “My brother has maintained his innocence all along.”

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