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Same in the USA. This is what “prosecutor deals” are for: plead guilty and we’ll let you off with a year in jail, make us hold a trial and the judge will give you ten years.

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Right, but I intentionally avoided making that comparison because of the way the US justice system works. There are more escape hatches for someone who has been charged to be released while awaiting trial: bail, release on recognizance, habeas petitions, etc. These don't really exist in the same way in Japan.

It is not in fact the same in the USA. You cannot be held indefinitely without a judicial hearing and without access to a lawyer in the US. You can in Japan, and in fact that's the norm.

Tell Kalief Browder that. Oh wait, he killed himself after being held for three years without trial because prosecutors 'weren't ready' to actually try him for the accusation of theft, and without the option of bail because he had previously violated probation as a child.

edit: ohhhh oops weasel wording. You're right, he did in fact have multiple judicial hearings! It's functionally irrelevant since none of them ever had the power to release him or find him innocent.

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