Death Penalty and the Media

When I tell people that ten years ago the death penalty in Japan was re-instated, most people probably would respond, “What? Haven't we been applying the death penalty all this time?”The United Nations General Assembly passed the “International Agreement to Abolish the Death Penalty” resolution in December, 1989. Because of such world-wide social pressure, Japan had already suspended the death penalty in November of that year. On February 26, 1993, however, three people were executed under orders of Gotoda Masaharu, the Minister of Justice. This was only three years and four months after suspension of the death penalty in Japan. Since then, in the last ten years, the Ministry of Justice has applied the death penalty almost once every six months.