I haven’t seen this info posted on Tumblr, so I figured I’d write it up for everyone’s reference: let’s talk about attorney’s badges!
Shortly after I started Ace Attorney I idly googled “Japanese attorney badge,” expecting to discover this was another legal fact that AA had just made up wholesale. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be 100% legit! Japan really does have lapel badges for attorneys. They’re called kisho, and they’re taken quite seriously. Attorneys’ badges come from the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. Technically JFBA only lends the badges to attorneys, so you have to return yours if you’re disbarred (Phoenix), convicted of a crime, declared bankrupt (?), or declared dead (presumably they don’t make you do that last one in person).
Badges are not interchangeable, should never be lent to someone else (Phoenix), and if you lose yours, you have to apply to the Bar Association to get a new one made (plus they post your name in the Corner of Shame in the government’s official gazette so everyone knows you lost your badge, ha ha). You have to get a new one made just for you because each badge has the attorney’s unique ID number engraved on the back – if you examine Phoenix’s you’ll see his ID is 26381.
There’s no specific badge for defense attorneys, but there is one for bengoshi (left photo) – trial lawyers, the kind that actually stand in a courtroom – and a separate badge for prosecutors (right photo), so by process of elimination you can tell someone’s a defense attorney.[1] The bengoshi kisho is a stylized sunflower (that’s why Phoenix gets drawn with sunflowers) and definitely not a chrysanthemum. Chrysanthemums are the symbol of the Imperial Household, and bengoshi specifically don’t have one because they aren’t expected to take orders from the government – they answer to the law.
Bengoshi are supposed to wear their badges when performing any kind of legal duty, and in practice most do wear them all the time when working. Attorneys on a case can do things civilians can’t – for instance, investigate crime scenes, visit suspects, and demand certain types of information from the government – and the badge is a handy way of proving an attorney’s identity. Put another way…yes, Phoenix really does go around showing everyone his badge.
On the other side of the courtroom, the prosecutor’s badge is a symbol called shuso retsujitsu, made of white chrysanthemum petals, gold leaves, and a red sun. The name means “autumn frost, scorching sunlight,” which is so perfect for Edgeworth, like, he’s exactly dramatic enough to wear something with a name like that. Symbolically this phrase is supposed to evoke “the harshness of punishment and the constancy of principles expected from the prosecutor.”
Most sunflower badges are made of silver metal with a gold coating. Ema confirms that Phoenix’s badge is the same in Rise from the Ashes. Over time, the gold coating starts to wear off the badge. A silvery badge is thus an informal status symbol among bengoshi because it means the bearer has been an attorney for a long time. Near the end of the first AA game Phoenix comments that his badge might be developing “a luster,” which may mean that he hopes it’s starting to look a little silvery now so people will stop calling him a rookie.
Most of this post is based on the info here, so if you want to know even more, check it out.
[1] In Japanese the suffix -bengoshi can be used to address an attorney politely, so you don’t need to guess with -san, -sama, etc. - you can just say “Naruhodou-bengoshi.” If you set UMvC3′s language to Japanese, Phoenix will address Jessica Walters/She-Hulk as “Walters-bengoshi.”
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