A 72-year-old man from Kanazawa, charged with driving 190 km/h on the Hokuriku Expressway in Ishikawa Prefecture, stunned the courtroom at his first hearing on the 24th by reversing course and pleading not guilty, declaring he would “fight this all the way to the Supreme Court.” The thread lit up with reactions ranging from cost-benefit math on fines versus legal fees, to the difference between losing your license and a criminal conviction, to jabs at the lawyer cashing in.
The first hearing was held on the 24th at Kanazawa District Court for a 72-year-old Kanazawa resident who was arrested and indicted in March for driving 190 km/h on the Hokuriku Expressway in Hakusan City, Ishikawa Prefecture, on suspicion of extreme speeding.
[See photos] “I’m not guilty” — 72-year-old man who hit 190 km/h on the Hokuriku Expressway declares at first hearing, “I’m taking this to the Supreme Court”
The man pleaded not guilty and told reporters, “I’ll fight this all the way to the Supreme Court.”
At 72, he's got nothing left to lose, and more free time than anyone.
191AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:05
Re: #3 True, it'll keep his brain sharp. Even if he loses, it's not the kind of crime that gets you real prison time. Even as a convict he still gets his full pension. And at his age it's not like he's writing résumés anymore. Though there's a good chance the dementia's already kicked in.
236AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:32
Re: #3 They should just publish his real name. He might end up losing his relationship with his kids, wife, grandkids, and other relatives over this.
8AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:08
He's already had his license suspended — what's even the point of fighting it now?
147AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:43
Re: #8 As people get older, more of them lose the ability to control their anger and emotions. You know how you sometimes see old guys yelling in the middle of the street? You'd think 'act your age,' but it's actually the opposite going on.
174AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:57
Re: #8 There's a difference between an administrative penalty and a criminal penalty, you know. And besides, his license suspension is already over.
11AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:09
If it's just plain speeding with no accident, the fine should be under 100,000 yen. Is he fighting the accuracy of the old speed cameras or the enforcement method, like people used to? Or is he just killing time?
55AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:46
Re: #11 Going that fast, he's done for. If it were 10 or 20 km/h over, sure, fight it.
14AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:12
The real problem is that cars can even go faster than necessary in the first place.
109AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:29
Re: #14 Starting with mopeds, no less.
17AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:18
So how much is the fine anyway? Wouldn't the court costs end up higher than that?
21AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:21
Re: #17 Under 100,000 yen. From what I've heard, it's usually around 80,000.
24AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:24
Re: #17 It wouldn't be a fine, it'd be prison time — like 3 months with a 2-year suspended sentence.
75AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:10
Re: #17 The lawyer sure found himself a nice juicy case here lol
30AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:31
Guess as long as lawyers exist, crime's never going away.
34AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:34
Re: #30 Money talks, even in hell. It's a profession built on turning black into white — you pretty much have to be a con artist to do the job.
40AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:36
> At the first hearing on the 24th at Kanazawa District Court, when asked about the charges, the man replied "apparently I was speeding," then abruptly flipped to claiming "I'm not guilty." Huh? If you were speeding, you're guilty!
42AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:37
It's just a speeding ticket, quit making it such a big deal lol Just leave the guy alone.
46AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:40
Re: #40 I think his claim is more like "the prosecution says I was speeding, but I'm not guilty," not "I really was speeding, but I'm not guilty."
54AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:46
Re: #46 If it's not true, why can't he just say so? > Q: Why were you speeding at the time? Defendant: Please hold that question — I'll answer it gradually, on the way up to the Supreme Court.
65AnonymousAug 25, 2026 05:58
District court: guilty. High court: guilty. Supreme Court: dismissed. Isn't that a possible outcome too?
103AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:24
Re: #65 Wouldn't a dismissed appeal just finalize the district court ruling as-is? Though I guess there's also the pattern where they push it all the way to the Supreme Court just to set an example precedent.
108AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:29
Re: #103 That wouldn't even work as an example — if anything it'd cheapen the Supreme Court. A dismissal at the high court is more than enough.
135AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:40
Re: #103 Appeal to the high court is called 'kōso.' Appeal to the Supreme Court is called 'jōkoku.' Together, kōso and jōkoku fall under the general term 'jōso' (appeal).
77AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:12
Stop calling a 20-year-old outdated model a 'luxury car'
91AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:20
Re: #77 Polish it up nice and shiny and it could still pass for a 5-million-yen car.
82AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:16
Everyone criticizing this guy probably speeds too in everyday life. It's not a matter of degree — the second you go over the legal limit, you're the same kind of person.
88AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:19
Re: #82 No, that's not right. Is slapping someone in a fight the same as beating them to death?
89AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:20
Re: #82 You seem like the type who'd be the one crawling at the front of a traffic jam on the bypass.
124AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:36
Re: #82 And when everyone else gets caught, they just accept it as bad luck. That's all there is to it.
139AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:41
Even going 100 km/h over, they'll normally knock it down to something like 39 km/h over and you just pay a 35,000 yen fine and it's done. This old man probably ended up in a real trial because he resisted the police from the start. Well, he'll probably get a suspended prison sentence out of it, so for a bored old man, dodging that 35,000 yen fine is basically a win. He'll pick up a criminal record, but since he's not exactly submitting résumés at his age anymore, it's no big deal.
173AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:57
Re: #139 If it were a fine, wouldn't it go to trial anyway? Also, does a 35,000 yen fine even exist? A fine that small, on par with a traffic penalty, is pretty rare.
183AnonymousAug 25, 2026 06:59
Re: #173 I was just trying to show off that it's technically called a 'reikikin' (traffic penalty), not a 'bakkin' (criminal fine) — don't play dumb and make it needlessly roundabout.
199AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:10
Re: #183 It's like grabbing someone who just mentioned 'my wife' and smugly going, 'Oh wow, you're not even that old and you already have a son old enough to be married? Impressive — how old were you when you had him?' (deliberately misreading 'yome' as 'son's wife' instead of 'my wife'). That's exactly what Re: #173 is doing.
247AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:37
But honestly, isn't some idiot crawling along in the passing lane way more dangerous than a guy flooring it?
251AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:39
Re: #247 Please, never drive a car for the rest of your life, okay?
252AnonymousAug 25, 2026 07:39
Re: #247 That's not really dangerous, though. Just annoying.
Background and Key Points
Japan treats extreme speeding as a criminal matter, not a mere traffic ticket. Under the Road Traffic Act, exceeding the limit by roughly 50 km/h or more on a highway typically bypasses the simplified “traffic ticket” (blue slip) system entirely and goes to formal prosecution, meaning a criminal trial rather than an administrative fine. At 190 km/h on the Hokuriku Expressway — where the limit is 100 km/h — this man was clocked at roughly double the limit, which is why he’s facing an actual indictment at Kanazawa District Court rather than a summary penalty. Japan’s appeal ladder runs from district court to high court (kōso) and finally to the Supreme Court (jōkoku), a process that can take years and cost far more in legal fees than any fine at stake.
The thread’s real disagreement wasn’t about his guilt — almost no one doubted the speed reading — but about motive: is a 72-year-old with nothing to lose rationally gaming a system where, even if convicted, he keeps his pension and has no career left to protect, or is this a symptom of age-related loss of impulse control that posters compared to elderly people yelling in public?
What outside readers likely miss is that Japan cleanly separates administrative penalties (license suspension, points) from criminal penalties (fines or prison with possible suspended sentence) — losing your license does not resolve a separate criminal case, which is why “his license is already suspended, why fight it” misunderstands the two-track system. The article and posters also never clarify what specific plea he’s contesting: the speed measurement itself, or the manner of his arrest.
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