In September 2024, a Chinese national in Japan’s Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, drove the wrong way at a high speed of 125km/h and caused an accident that resulted in the death of a 51-year-old male driver. Prosecutors changed the charge from negligent driving causing death to dangerous driving causing death, and the Saitama District Court, on the 19th, sentenced the defendant to 9 years in prison as requested by the prosecution.
United Daily News reported that the main controversy in this case was the choice of charges. When the case was referred to the prosecutors last September, the district court downgraded the charge to the lighter offense of negligent driving causing death, and the prosecution originally indicted on that charge. However, in March of this year, the local prosecutors filed to upgrade the charge to dangerous driving causing death, seeking a 9-year sentence.
The defense argued that “the driving was in a controllable speed on a straight road,” and requested protective measures, but this was rejected. The verdict pointed out that the defendant floored the accelerator and drove the wrong way on a narrow road about 2.7 meters wide with a speed limit of 30km/h. Right before entering the intersection, the speed had reached around 125km/h. "Any minor error in steering at that point would have caused the car to leave the roadway." The court determined that due to the high-speed, wrong-way driving, it was impossible to avoid colliding with the victim's vehicle, leading to the accident.
The judgement stated that the driver had no way of anticipating a vehicle coming the wrong way, and it is unreasonable that an entirely blameless victim lost his life. The accident caused the death of a 51-year-old male.
Previous reports said the Chinese man and two friends, after drinking, drove off, and, because he was driving the wrong way down a one-way street and feared being discovered, began speeding, exceeding 100km/h. At the intersection, he ignored a stop sign and crashed into a car passing through, seriously injuring 51-year-old Mao Mitsutani, who was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital.
The then-18-year-old man voluntarily called police after the accident, reporting, "There has been a car accident." When officers arrived and tested him for alcohol, his breath alcohol concentration was found to be 0.15mg per liter, and he was arrested on the spot for negligent injury and drunk driving.