From New York Times:
TOKYO — The Japanese government opened up its execution chambers to the public for the first time on Friday, taking journalists on a tour of Tokyo’s main gallows. The insides were stark: a trapdoor, a Buddha statue and a ring for the noose.
The opening of the chambers was a bid by Japan’s justice minister, Keiko Chiba, to stir debate over a practice that is widely supported here.
Of the Group of Eight industrialized nations, only the United States and Japan use capital punishment. Japan currently has 107 inmates on death row, and no pardon is allowed. From 2000 to 2009, Japan sentenced 112 people to death and executed 46.
“I called for proper disclosure in the hope that it spurs debate over the death penalty and criminal sentencing,” Ms. Chiba, who opposes the death penalty, said at a news conference this month.
In July, Ms. Chiba approved — and witnessed — the hangings of two inmates convicted of murder, saying she was carrying out her duties as justice minister. Afterward, she said she still opposed capital punishment and ordered that journalists be given a tour of the facilities. She also promised to create a panel of experts to discuss the death penalty, including whether it should be stopped. The panel meets next month.
Japan has long been criticized by human rights activists for its capital punishment system. The United Nations Human Rights Committee, which monitors civil and political rights, has urged Japan to consider abolishing the death penalty, citing the large number of crimes that entail the death sentence, the lack of pardoning, the solitary confinement of inmates and executions at advanced ages and despite signs of mental illness.
Japan also has a 99 percent conviction rate, a figure critics attribute to widespread use of forced confessions. A series of false convictions have surfaced in recent months, including one of a 63-year-old man who had served 17 years of a life sentence for the murder of a 4-year-old girl. He was released after prosecutors admitted that his confession was a fabrication made under duress and DNA tests showed he was innocent. Critics say there is a high possibility that some of those on death row are innocent.
Inmates on death row are not told when they will be executed until the last minute — a procedure Japanese officials say prevents panic among inmates — and their family members and lawyers are informed only afterward, as are the news media.
Inmates can remain on death row as long as 40 years, though executions over the past decade have occurred on average after about 5 years and 11 months on death row, according to the public broadcast channel NHK. The Justice Ministry has refused to disclose how it makes decisions to go ahead with executions.
A large majority of Japan’s population supports capital punishment. A recent government survey showed that 86 percent of respondents are in favor of state executions for the worst crimes.
“Any debate should take into account the lifelong suffering that the victims’ families must bear,” said Isao Okamura, whose wife was murdered over a work dispute in 1997, in an interview with NHK.
All executions are carried out by hanging. Foreign news outlets, including The New York Times, were excluded from the visit, despite repeated requests to take part.
According to accounts in local news outlets, journalists were taken to the execution site in a bus with closed curtains, because its exact location is kept secret. There are seven such sites across Japan, the Justice Ministry said.
The journalists were led through the chambers, one by one: a chapel with a Buddhist altar where the condemned are read their last rites; a small room, also with a Buddha statue, where a prison warden officially orders the execution; the execution room, with a pulley and rings for the rope and a trapdoor where the condemned inmate stands; and the viewing room where officials witness the hanging.
The inmate is handcuffed and blindfolded before entering the execution room, officials said. Three prison wardens push separate buttons, only one of which releases the trapdoor — but they never find out which one. Wardens are given a bonus of about $230 every time they attend an execution.
Satoshi Tomiyama, the Justice Ministry official who later briefed the foreign news outlets and others excluded from the tour, said that wardens take the utmost care to treat death row inmates fairly and humanely.
The Buddha statues can be switched with an altar of the indigenous Japanese Shinto religion for followers of that faith, he said. For Christians, the prison provides a wooden cross. Inmates are given fruit and snacks before their execution, and sentences are not carried out on weekends, national holidays and around the New Year.
Mr. Tomiyama read a statement from a warden who carries out executions but did not identify him by name. Executions “are carried out somberly, and the tension is enough to make my hand shake,” he quoted the warden as saying.
Human rights activists criticize the conditions in which the inmates are made to await their death. They are held in solitary confinement in a cell about 50 square feet, which they leave only to exercise and bathe, both alone. They can request Japanese chess sets, but they must play alone. They are able to purchase newspapers and books, though the prison censors some of the content; articles about last month’s executions were blacked out in newspapers given to death row inmates. Relatives can visit, but friends cannot.
Kanae Doi, a lawyer who heads Human Rights Watch Japan, said she welcomed Japan’s steps toward more transparency. But “the death penalty should not be enforced by a majority opinion,” she said.
“Apart from Japan and the United States, the other countries in the world that carry out capital punishment are those accused of other grave human rights violations,” Ms. Doi said. “Japan should be ashamed to be on that list.”
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For more stories on the unveiling of the execution chambers, click here.
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Last paragraph, Ms Doi’s comment, “Apart from Japan and the United States, the other countries in the world that carry out capital punishment are those accused of other grave human rights violations”
… it should make the Singapore government think about what her statement means with regards to Singapore’s reputation overseas.
I am more interested in the Japanese officials revealing in detail the activities of LKY and Nathan while serving the Japanese Imperial Army during WW2. Afterall there were plenty of executions during that period.
This important chapter in Singapore’s history is missing and deserves a comprehensive presentation in our museum and history books for the benefit of future generations.
“Apart from Japan and the United States, the other countries in the world that carry out capital punishment are those accused of other grave human rights violations,” Ms. Doi said. “Japan should be ashamed to be on that list.”
The above statements clearly demonstrate the kind of double standards and hypocrisies of all these so called human rights organizations…they seems to have conveniently forgotten or ignored the fact that United States had fabricated lies and accused Iraq of having Weapons of Mass Destructions (WMD), which justified their invasion of another soverign country, followed by the killings of over hundred thousands of innocent civilians lives but yet justifying it as a necessary war collateral, and yet all these atrocities were not classifed as human rights violations at all by Ms. Doi???
So, is Human Rights Watch and TOC supporting the rights of United States to commit such kind of atrocities and the killing of innocent Iraqis civilians, and yet, think that Singapore government was wrong in hanging a convicted drug trafficker?
Supporting the move against MDP is one thing, but being hypocritical in doing it is totally another thing, and I despise all these hypocritical organizations who see it fit to turn an eye closed and let United States do whatever and whenever they wwant in killing innocent lives, and yet accusing others of human rights violations!
@Seet
“So, is Human Rights Watch and TOC supporting the rights of United States to commit such kind of atrocities and the killing of innocent Iraqis civilians, and yet, think that Singapore government was wrong in hanging a convicted drug trafficker?”
Based on your post above you seen to endorse the death penalty of lesser evil as compared to the US invasion of IRAQ.
SO you support dictatorships like SADDAM HUSSEIN? Ever thought WHY he was executed by HIW OWN people??? What is your take on that???
@Seet
It seems to me that you have a bone to pick with Ms Doi, or at a stretch, The New York Times (where this article is from). Why are you suddenly accusing TOC of supporting the United States?
I’m not sure whether you are for or against the death penalty/mandatory death penalty in Singapore or not, but whether the US has human rights violations or not does not detract from the validity of the debate and campaign against the death penalty in Singapore and the campaign to save Yong Vui Kong. Just because there are human rights violations in other countries does not make it all right to have human rights violations in ours.
@Seet
What exactly is your point?
A: Of course Saddam is right and the US wrong to invade Iraq
B: but it is right for Saddam to be hanged, just as the Singapore government hangs a convicted drug trafficker
Now how can B happen if A did not happen (US invaded Iraq) and the objective of A is to reach B, right?
Did you eat just a Chicken or an “egg”?
@Seet
While your feelings maybe right towards the US invasion of Iraq based on false and fabricated evidence of WMD possession by Saddam Hussein – it is a separate issue from what was said by Japan’s Minister of Justice, who was more contrite then US President Bush if you can discern her statement more carefully.
“Apart from Japan and the United States, the other countries in the world that carry out capital punishment are those accused of other grave human rights violations,” Ms. Doi said. “Japan should be ashamed to be on that list.”
The issue is about ‘CAPITAL PUNISHMENT’ and not about the correctness of US policy towards Iraq.
Keep things simple and focused, and you will be on the right track – as life is complicated enough as it is.
If the Japanese Minister has the humane sensibility and social responsibility towards her society, surely it speaks volumes for her person – as a responsible citizen able to contribute to the development of her community and country into a true First World Nation ?
Compare this with the Singapore situation where the Ministers and Members of Parliament have to tow Party lines, and are not allowed to even honestly represent the interests of their respective constituencies – in any Parliamentary Votes that affect the Singapore electorates !
Singapore today is experiencing the total dominance of a Single Political Party in every aspect of Political Life of every member of the Singapore Population.
Singaporeans have discovered belatedly that Life and Death issue is now decided by the Political Leadership of the Ruling Political Party that form the Cabinet.
This is accomplished through its sheer dominance in Parliament – after fixing the electoral system – which allow it to pass legislations that disenfranchise the political rights of Singaporeans, tie the hands of the Judiciary through legislations dictating mandatory sentences, and defining and tweaking the powers of the Office of the Elected President to suit the convenience of the Ruling Political Party.
This status quo is questionable when it deviates completely from the Singapore Pledge – even if we accept the high falutin views of MM LKY that the Pledge is merely an aspiration and cannot be a principle to live by.
What will be the opinions of the other founding fathers who are still alive today ?
Is this the vision that they have of what Singapore is to be – when they first planned to develop Singapore to be a sovereign nation ?
Were these the visions shared and inspired generations of Singaporeans to work so hard to have Singapore be what it is today ?
Or were Singaporeans hoodwinked and misled by all the cleverly crafted speeches that obfuscate the truth ?
Should we be surprise that MM LKY hold such low opinions towards his fellow citizens – seeing us all as “DAFT” for allowing him to perpetuate this illusion for 53 years since 1957 ?
“Any debate should take into account the lifelong suffering that the victims’ families must bear,” said Isao Okamura, whose wife was murdered over a work dispute in 1997, in an interview with NHK.
That about sums up what I have to say really…
lobo,
Since she said life long suffering of victim’s family, would capital punishment change it?
The Japanese has a creative way of executing criminal. 3 persons press the button but they don’t know which button really activates the killing.
I think they should improve it to no one need to press ‘killing’ button and it is programed to do the hanging automatically.
prp,
Since no punishment can ‘change’ anything, do you advocate no punishment?
prp
Capital punishment don’t really change the result, but it sure act as deterrent to others. It also act as a comfort to the families on a very simple basis, “eye for an eye”.
If just 1 out of the 10+ people witnessing the execution says “Crime does not pay” to his/her children, if the execution steers just 1 more person away from the path of crime, capital punishment will have done its part in modern society.
If you do not believe the existence of darkness in Humanity and the brutal savage killing it can unleash unchecked by Law, undeterred by imprisonments…well I just pray that you will never find out.