Japan
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Retentionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 1
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · The death penalty is provided for by the Criminal Procedure...
- News items in the archive
- 739
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Japan is classified as Retentionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 1 the year before. The archive holds 739 news items on Japan, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- AUGUST 16, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN: COURT UPHOLDS DEATH PENALTY FOR BROTHER'S MURDER
the Tokyo High Court in Japan upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced a man to death for having an acquaintance kill his younger brother in 2005, while he was on parole after serving time for another murder.
- JULY 25, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN: EX-GANGSTER'S DEATH SENTENCE FINALISED
the death sentence given to a former gangster for two murders was finalised after he withdrew an appeal...
- JULY 20, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. TOP COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE FOR TOKYO GAS ATTACKER
Japan's top court upheld a death sentence against a doomsday cult member who played a
- JULY 13, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. TOKYO HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE IN 1995 SUBWAY GASSING
a Japanese high court upheld the death sentence of a former medical
- JULY 5, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN: TOP COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE OF MAN ACCUSED OF KILLING 2
the Supreme Court in Japan upheld the death sentence of Kunihiko Hamakawa...
- JUNE 25, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. EX-JUDGE URGES CONDEMNED MAN'S RETRIAL
Norimichi Kumamoto, a former judge who in 1968 sentenced a pro boxer to
- JUNE 19, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
EX-STUDENT'S DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDERING COUPLE UPHELD
the Supreme Court in Japan upheld a lower court decision sentencing a former Chinese graduate student to death for killing a compatriot student and her Chinese husband in 2000 after his overtures to her were rejected
- JUNE 1, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN DEATH PENALTY FINALIZED FOR MAN WHO MURDERED PAIR OF SISTERS
the death sentence of a 23-year-old man who killed two sisters in Osaka, Japan, in 2005 was finalized after he withdrew his appeal, his lawyers said.
- MAY 22, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. DEATH FOR MAN WHO BURIED VICTIMS ALIVE
a japanese man was sentenced to death for bashing two men then burying them alive.
- MAY 21, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN 1 GETS DEATH PENALTY OVER FRAUD-RING MURDERS
the Chiba District Court sentenced a man to death and two others to life imprisonment over the deaths of four people in 2004 following infighting in a billing fraud ring...
- MAY 7, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN MAN APPEALS DEATH SENTENCE FOR MURDERING 2 WOMEN IN IWATE
defence lawyers for Kazuyuki Wakabayashi, 30, have appealed his death sentence to the Sendai High Court in Japan.
- APRIL 27, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. 3 DEATH ROW INMATES EXECUTED
Three death row inmates were executed at detention centers in Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka.
- APRIL 26, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN EX-GANGSTER SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING 2 IN SAITAMA IN 2003
the Saitama District Court in Japan sentenced Hidenori Ogata, a 29 year old former gangster, to death for murdering two people and seriously injuring two others in Saitama Prefecture.
- APRIL 25, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING RESTAURANT OWNER, SHOOTING RAILWAY WORKER
an appeal court in Japan sentenced a unemployed man to death for murder and robbery.
- APRIL 24, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN ROBBERY-MURDER GETS DEATH PENALTY
Presiding Judge Shinji Sugiyama of the Morioka District Court in Japan sentenced Kazuyuki Wakabayashi, 30, to death for killing two women in Hirono, Iwate Prefecture, last July 19.
- APRIL 19, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
TOKYO: DEATH SENTENCE APPEAL FAILS
the Japanese Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Hiroshi Zoda...
- APRIL 13, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN DEATH SENTENCE FINAL IN TAKEFUJI CASE
the Japanese Supreme Court finalised the death sentence it upheld last month against Mitsuhiro Kobayashi,
- APRIL 10, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN MAN GIVEN DEATH FOR MURDER-ROBBERY DURING PAROLE
the Japanese Supreme Court upheld the death sentence handed to Shozo Nishiyama, 54, for killing a woman in Fukuyama, Hiroshima Prefecture, in 1992 while he was on parole from a life sentence for murder and robbery.
- MARCH 28, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR INTERNET MURDERS
a Japanese man was sentenced to death for murdering three people he lured through a suicide Web site by offering to die with them, a court official said.
- MARCH 23, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN COURT REJECTS DEATH ROW INMATE'S RETRIAL REQUEST
the Toyama District Court, Japan, dismissed a request for a retrial filed by a woman convicted of abducting and murdering two women in 1980 in Toyama and Nagano prefectures.
- MARCH 22, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
DEATH SENTENCE UPHELD, NO OF DEATH ROW INMATES REACHES 101
the Supreme Court upheld a high court decision to hang a 57 year old man for murdering and robbing a Nagoya bar owner in 2002.
- MARCH 22, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
SERIAL KILLER HANDED DEATH PENALTY
Tetsuo Odajima, 63, was sentenced to death for four killings at the Chiba District Court.
- MARCH 20, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
the Sapporo District Court in Japan rejected...
the Sapporo District Court in Japan rejected...
- MARCH 8, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
HIGH COURT UPHOLDS DEATH PENALTY FOR CHINESE STUDENT
Fukuoka High Court, in Japan, upheld the death penalty for a former vocational...
- FEBRUARY 27, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
37 YEAR OLD FORMER CO-OP STAFFER SENTENCED TO DEATH
a 37-year-old former co-op staffer was sentenced to death in Japan for killing a colleague in 2004 and then killing his own wife in 2005.
- FEBRUARY 27, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
FORMER SENIOR GANGSTER, ELDEST SON SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR MURDERING 4 PEOPLE
a former senior gangster and his eldest son were sentenced to death for murdering four people in Japan.
- FEBRUARY 20, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. NUMBER OF DEATH ROW INMATES HITS 100
the number of inmates slated for execution in Japan hit 100, with a fifth of the sentences coming in the last
- JANUARY 17, 2007ChinaDEATH PENALTY
CHINESE COURT SENTENCES 1 JAPANESE, 2 CHINESE TO DEATH IN DRUGS CASE
a Chinese court sentenced a Japanese man and his two Chinese accomplices to death for attempting to smuggle drugs from China to Japan...
- JANUARY 7, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
DEATH SENTENCES IN JAPAN IN 2006 HIT RECORD-HIGH 44
it was reported that forty-four death sentences were handed down by courts across Japan in 2006, a record high since 1980, when the Supreme Court began keeping records on such sentences.
- JANUARY 4, 2007JapanDEATH PENALTY
JAPAN. SPECIAL APPEAL FILED OVER MAN ON DEATH ROW FOR 1961 MURDER
defence counsel for Masaru Okunishi, sentenced to death for killing five people in 1961 in Nabari, Mie Prefecture, filed a special appeal with Japan’s Supreme Court in an effort to win back the chance of a retrial.