A former Japanese justice minister received a three-year jail term on Friday for vote-buying in an attempt to get his wife elected to a national office, local media said.

Katsuyuki Kawai, 58, was found guilty of charges that he distributed 29 million yen ($260,000 at today's rates) to about 100 people in 2019, to help secure an upper house seat for his wife Anri, national broadcaster NHK said.