Professional Luncheon,
Norimichi Kumamoto & Hideo Ogawa,
"The Iwao Hakamada Case"

The speech and Q & A will be in Japanese with English Interpretation.

Until the murder trial of Iwao Hakamada in 1968, Norimichi Kumamoto was an upcoming magistrate. One of the three magistrates judging Hakamada, he became convinced that the defendant was innocent of murdering a family of four in Fukuoka. The chief justice disagreed and sentenced Hakamada to death. Kumamoto quit the bench in protest.

In November, Kumamoto broke 39 years of silence over the case to publicly declare his support for freeing the condemned man, who remains on death row in a windowless three-tatami mat room. Unsure when the guards will come unannounced to take him to the gallows, Hakamada is slowly losing his mind.

The efforts of Hakamada's sister and a group of campaigners have so far failed to win a retrial for the convict. Kumamoto, 70, and Hideo Ogawa, chief lawyer for the campaign, will come to the club on Nov. 6 to talk about how they will try and win a new hearing for Hakamada. That fight will not only decide Hakamada's fate, it also highlights the treatment meted out to death row prisoners and flaws in a judicial system based largely on written confessions obtained by police investigators in unrecorded interrogation sessions, and which convicts 99% of those who come before a judge.

Sandwich: Roast beef, tomato, pickles & olive cream cheese.
Hot Lunch: Pan fried salmon fillet on baby potatoes with a champagne, leek & mushroom sauce.
Dining Room Special: Boneless tandoori spiced quail on flatbread, cucumber raita and chili jam.

Mr. Norimichi Kumamoto

Mr. Hideo Ogawa, lawyer