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Yes, even in 2026 you can still get arrested if you don\u2019t follow a law originally enacted to keep ex-samurai in line<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The late 19th century\u2019s Meiji Restoration, in which Japan abolished the shogunate and warrior castes, is often treated with a sense of bittersweetness by history enthusiasts and entertainment media, But while there\u2019s an undeniable wistfulness to the closing of the curtain on the romantic appeal the samurai era, the Meiji restoration\u2019s shift towards elected officials and codified laws was, in the grand scheme of things, a necessary change and, for the common people, a major improvement over the old system of \u201cThe guys who\u2019re the best fighters can do whatever they want.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, the transition was not immediate or easy, illustrated by the fact that, in 1889, the Japanese government had to officially codify a law, called the \u201cAct Concerning the Criminality of Dueling,\u201d telling people they were not allowed to duel each other<\/strong>. You\u2019d think 137 years would be enough time for that message to seep in, but apparently it wasn\u2019t, as last Thursday the Tokyo Metropolitan Police announced that they\u2019ve arrested an unemployed man from Chiba Prefecture for violating the dueling law<\/strong>.<\/p>\n According to the Tokyo Metro Police\u2019s Organized Crime Division (members of the yakuza are often technically considered \u201cunemployed\u201d), 26-year-old\u00a0Fugetsu Asari engaged in a duel with another man on the morning of September 23, at around 4 a.m., on the streets of Tokyo\u2019s Kabukicho district of Shibuya Ward<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u25bc Kabukicho<\/p>\n We should pause here and take a moment to discuss what\u2019s considered a \u201cduel\u201d in modern Japanese law. The Act Concerning the Criminality of Dueling itself doesn\u2019t explicitly state what the dividing line is between engaging a duel and committing assault, perhaps because it was written at a time when dueling was common enough to not require any additional explanation. However, precedent in rulings from Japan\u2019s Supreme Court has established that \u201cFighting containing acts of violence likely cause physical harm or be life-threatening, carried out through mutual agreement of both parties at the time\u201d<\/strong> is an applicable definition. In other words, the participants don\u2019t necessarily have to be swinging katana at each other, attempting to take revenge for a slain brother, or trying to uphold the honor of their dojo, and the approximately \u201cat-dawn\u201d timing of Asari\u2019s duel was merely a dramatic coincidence. Basically, if one person says to another \u201cLet\u2019s fight,\u201d and the other says \u201cOK!\u201d, it can be considered a duel.<\/p>\n According to Asari, he had never met his duel adversary, 30-year-old Naoya Masuda (occupation indeterminable), before the day they fought, and says that the reason for their fight was a small, unimportant matter. Whatever the reason, though, it was upsetting enough for the two to agree that they needed to throw hands over it, during which Asari also threw Masuda to the ground<\/strong>. The part of Kabukicho they were fighting in, called Toyoko, is a network of alleys and a large, concrete plaza, and Masuda suffered injuries to his head and face<\/strong> when he was tossed to the pavement.<\/p>\n As for why Asari is the only one who\u2019s facing charges, Masuda died on October 12, due to multiple organ failures stemming from the injuries he sustained in the fight. As a result, Asari is now being charged with manslaughter as well. He has admitted to the charges, but says \u201cI feel deeply remorseful that the person I fought with died.\u201d<\/p>\n Though dueling indictments don\u2019t come up too often, there were at least two instances of them in 2025, one involving a high school student and adult man in Gunma in October, and another in the spring in which two women from rival gangs in Saitama Prefecture arranged to meet up for some fisticuffs<\/a> through social media.<\/p>\n Violation of the Act Concerning the Criminality of Dueling carries a penalty of between two and five years imprisonment<\/strong>\u00a0(increased from the law\u2019s original penalty of between six to 24 months\u2019 imprisonment), which would be in addition to any time Asari would have to serve if also found guilty of his manslaughter charges. It\u2019s also worth noting that in addition to fighting itself, challenging someone to a fight, arranging a place for oneself or others to fight, and even gathering to watch the fight can all be considered violations of the dueling law as well. So while Japan remains an overall very safe country, always remember to keep your nose clean and stay out of trouble, especially when you\u2019re in crazy-town Kabukicho<\/a>.<\/p>\n Source: Asahi Shimbun<\/a> via Itai News<\/a>, E-gov<\/a><\/em> Yes, even in 2026 you can still get arrested if you don\u2019t follow a law originally enacted to keep ex-samurai in line. The late 19th century\u2019s Meiji Restoration, in which…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3906\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/soranews24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/01\/kd-2.jpg?w=640\")
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\nTop image: Pakutaso<\/a><\/em>
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