Defense lawyer is a shit job in Japan since judges still feel it's part of their job to convict, and the lawyer is not allowed to be present during questioning, and the prosecutor only forwards cases they think they can win, hence 99.9% conviction rate meaning defense can mostly only focus on trying to reduce penalties.
https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/c05401/order-in-the-court-explaining-japan%E2%80%99s-99-9-conviction-rate.html