Japan Supreme Court Seeks Judge’s Dismissal over Online Casino Case
TOKYO – Japan’s Supreme Court has requested impeachment proceedings against a judge indicted over alleged habitual gambling through an online casino site.
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE:The move puts rare disciplinary pressure on the judiciary and brings renewed attention to Japan’s strict approach to online gambling.
Akifumi Morimoto, 52, a judge at Niigata Summary Court, was indicted without arrest by the Akita District Public Prosecutors Office on April 17. Prosecutors allege he accessed an online casino site more than 60,000 times using a smartphone and tablet between April and September 2023.
The case involves alleged gambling activity including baccarat while Morimoto was living in Akita Prefecture. According to the Supreme Court, Morimoto has admitted the allegations and expressed remorse.
The top court said Morimoto’s conduct “amounted to a delinquency undermining the dignity of judges” as it requested that a related parliamentary commission file a petition with the Judge Impeachment Court.
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If the parliamentary commission files the petition, the Judge Impeachment Court will consider whether Morimoto should be dismissed from the bench.
“It is very regrettable that we had to take procedures to seek the dismissal of an active judge”, said Masamichi Itatsu, head of the Supreme Court’s Personnel Affairs Bureau. “We will work to regain public trust in judges”, he added.
The case is unusual because judicial dismissals in Japan remain rare. A total of eight judges have been dismissed since the end of World War II, including Kiichi Okaguchi, who was removed in 2024 over inappropriate social media posts.
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Japan prohibits most forms of gambling outside tightly controlled exceptions, and online casino gambling remains illegal even when sites are operated from overseas.
The allegations against Morimoto stand out because of both the scale of the alleged activity and his position within the legal system. The Supreme Court’s request suggests the issue is being treated not only as a criminal matter, but also as a question of public trust in the judiciary.
The next step will depend on whether the parliamentary commission files a petition. If it does, the impeachment court will decide whether the case warrants dismissal.
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