Three stages of interpreting in Japan’s criminal process

Abstract

There are three main stages in Japan’s criminal process involving interpreters:
interrogations by the Police, interviews conducted by the Public Prosecutors
OXce, and the criminal trial, heard either by a professional judge (or judges) alone, or together with the so-called ‘lay judges.’ Even though these three stages may eventually form a single judicial process, the expectations of the interpreter,
as well as the interpreting techniques, vary, thus making legal interpreting
in Japan a multi-faceted and demanding endeavor. This paper gives an
overview of the Japanese legal interpreting process exploring the various aspects
that emerge during the three stages.