Takashi Tachibana (立花孝志), the 59-year-old leader of the NHK Party (NHK kara Kokumin wo Mamoru Tou), has revealed that he got married while in detention, telling a Tokyo-area court that “my heart is happy” despite spending more than 11 months behind bars, according to Tospo (Tokyo Sports).
Tachibana shared the news of his so-called “jail marriage” during a recent court appearance, per the Tospo report. Under Japanese law, inmates can legally register a marriage while incarcerated, though the paperwork is typically handled through a lawyer or an approved visitor rather than the detainee in person.
Tachibana has remained in custody since his arrest and is on trial over social media posts that allegedly defamed Hideaki Takeuchi, a former Hyogo prefectural assembly member who died by suicide amid online rumors tied to a whistleblower scandal involving the prefectural government, according to the Asahi Shimbun. Prosecutors in Kobe indicted Tachibana over the posts. He was separately cleared, for a second time, of intimidation allegations involving fellow Hyogo assembly member Kenichi Okutani, the Asahi Shimbun reported. In an unrelated case, a 32-year-old unemployed man, Shion Miyanishi, went on trial in March 2026 accused of trying to kill Tachibana with a nata (a hatchet-like blade) in a March 2025 attack, according to Nikkei.
News of the marriage set off a wave of reaction on X. Several users noted it may explain how outside information has reportedly reached Tachibana despite jailhouse rules limiting visitors to family and lawyers. Others speculated, without confirmation, that a woman seen in the “related parties” section at Tachibana’s October 2 hearing, and previously photographed accompanying him on a trip to Dubai, could be his new spouse.
Who is Takashi Tachibana?
Takashi Tachibana is the founder and leader of the NHK Party, a Japanese political party built around opposition to NHK’s mandatory viewing fees. Known for his combative social media presence and long history of fielding candidates in national and local elections, Tachibana has remained an outspoken, controversial figure in Japanese politics even while in custody, as his defamation trial continues.
Author’s Comment
Only in Japan could a man run a defamation trial and a wedding on the same court calendar. Say what you want about Tachibana, but the guy never stops working an angle — jailhouse marriage is a genuinely clever, if slightly unsettling, workaround for visitation rules that supposedly only let family and lawyers through the door. X is already spinning theories that this was less romance and more logistics, tied to his history of running for office from behind bars, and honestly, I wouldn’t rule it out. Congratulations are technically in order, I suppose — though somebody really should go check on that dog.
