Almost every person charged with committing a serious crime in Japan is convicted and goes to jail. Jury trials simply do not exist and convictions are based on confessions. Some believe that Japanese criminal court cases are simply ceremonies to impose punishment rather than determine guilt.

The filmmaker obtained rare access to Japan's jails, where a cruel, secret system allows the abuse, torture and death of inmates. Prisons have spartan conditions and extremely strict rules; prisoners can be kept in solitary confinement for decades, others live eight to a room. In the last ten years there have been close to 250 suspicious deaths in custody. The film recounts the tragic ordeal of Sakae Menda who spent thirty-four years on death row after he confessed to a crime he did not commit, a confession obtained following six days of sleep deprivation and beatings. His testimony is powerful evidence of the flaws in Japan's justice system where reform is unlikely and Western notions of human rights are relatively new.

" Highly Recommended. Altschwager’s narration provides context for eyewitness accounts of the “third-world” nature of the Japanese system. The stories of former inmates, family members and activists are smoothly edited, transitions are clear and the information is reinforced by footage of inmates’ daily activities inside the prisons. Violent acts are described verbally but no injuries or violent scenes are shown, although videotape of a prisoner being blindfolded and prepared for hanging is excerpted during an interview with a death penalty opponent." Maureen Puffer-Rothenberg, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA, for EMRO