I was recently watching the TV series Jikou Keisatsu (statute of 
limitations police), the premise of which is that in Japan a crime cannot 
be prosecuted once 15 years have elapsed. Is this really the case, even for 
serious crimes like murder? If so it seems a surprising regulation, in most 
countries such time limits normally only affect civil cases like debt etc 
and not serious crimes. Anyway I enjoyed the series a lot, although I felt 
it became a bit silly towards the end. It reminded me somewhat of the UK 
series "Jonathon Creek" which also stars a curly-haired sleuth with a 
female sidekick.