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
- MARCH 1, 2000JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Tsu District Court sentenced 46 year old Nobuyuki...
The Tsu District Court sentenced 46 year old Nobuyuki Sawamoto, 50 year old Sakae Matsuyama, and Yoshiaki Fukumoto, 49, to death for murdering two Filipinos and robbing them of money and jewellery in Mie Prefecture on December 25, 1998
- FEBRUARY 28, 2000JapanDEATH PENALTY
Overruling a lower court decision that imposed a life...
Overruling a lower court decision that imposed a life sentence, the Tokyo High Court sentenced Takashi Mochida to death for robbing and murdering a 44-year-old female employee of Japan Tobacco Inc
- FEBRUARY 17, 2000JapanDEATH PENALTY
Isamu Hirano,53, was sentenced to death by the Utsunomiya...
Isamu Hirano,53, was sentenced to death by the Utsunomiya District Court for killing his former employer and his employer's wife, stealing their money, and setting fire to their house in Ichikai, Tochigi Prefecture in 1994
- FEBRUARY 9, 2000JapanDEATH PENALTY
Hiroaki Hidaka, 37, was given the death sentence for...
Hiroaki Hidaka, 37, was given the death sentence for murdering four women over a five-month period in 1996
- FEBRUARY 4, 2000JapanDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court upheld a ruling from two earlier...
The Supreme Court upheld a ruling from two earlier trials sentencing Susumu Kitagawa, 52, to death for assaulting four women and killing two of them between 1983 and 1990
- FEBRUARY 3, 2000JapanDEATH PENALTY
Tokyo requested that Lebanon extradite five Japanese...
Tokyo requested that Lebanon extradite five Japanese Red Army members wanted on international terrorism charges including the 1972 Lod airport attack in Tel Aviv, which saw 26 people murdered
- JANUARY 17, 2000JapanDEATH PENALTY
The defence made its closing arguments in the trial...
The defence made its closing arguments in the trial of thirty year old Yoshihiro Inoue, one of five Aum Shinri Kyo (Supreme Truth Sect) cult members accused of direct involvement in the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system
- JANUARY 1, 2000JapanDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is provided for by the Criminal Procedure...
The death penalty is provided for by the Criminal Procedure Law and by the Penal Code for a number of offenses (13) but, in practice, it is applied only for murder
- DECEMBER 16, 1999JapanDEATH PENALTY
On December 16, Japan hanged 2 men: Kazuo Sagawa, 48,...
On December 16, Japan hanged 2 men: Kazuo Sagawa, 48, and Teruo Ono, 62
- DECEMBER 15, 1999JapanDEATH PENALTY
On December 15, prosecutors urged the Tokyo District...
On December 15, prosecutors urged the Tokyo District Court to pass the death sentence on Satoru Hashimoto, 32, the "home affairs minister" of the Aum Supreme Truth cult, who is charged with murdering a lawyer and his family and with involvement in the sar
- DECEMBER 7, 1999JapanDEATH PENALTY
On December 7, prosecutors sought the death penalty...
On December 7, prosecutors sought the death penalty for Toru Toyoda, 31, and Kenichi Hirose, 35, two doomsday cult leaders accused of spraying nerve gas in a deadly attack on Tokyo's subways, an official said
- NOVEMBER 27, 1999JapanDEATH PENALTY
On November 27, a survey has revealed that almost 79
On November 27, a survey has revealed that almost 79
- NOVEMBER 3, 1999JapanDEATH PENALTY
On November 3, speaking at the Third Committee of the...
On November 3, speaking at the Third Committee of the General Assembly (human rights) under item 116a (death penalty), Kunio Umeda said that as is clear from the discussion in the last three years in the Commission on Human Rights, in the ECOSOC and in th
- SEPTEMBER 10, 1999JapanDEATH PENALTY
On September 10, 3 death row inmates: Masashi Sato,...
On September 10, 3 death row inmates: Masashi Sato, 62; Katsutoshi Takada, 61; and Tetsuyuki Morikawa, 69, were hanged
- JULY 22, 1999JapanDEATH PENALTY
Japan signed the letter, dated 22 July 1999, addressed...
Japan signed the letter, dated 22 July 1999, addressed to the President of the Economic and Social Council, in which the retentionist countries dissociated from the Commission on Human Rights resolution 1999/61 on the question of the death penalty
- APRIL 28, 1999JapanDEATH PENALTY
Japan voted against the resolution on the death penalty...
Japan voted against the resolution on the death penalty approved by the UN Commission on Human Rights on April 28
- JANUARY 8, 1999JapanDEATH PENALTY
On January 8, in Osaka, prosecutors demanded the death...
On January 8, in Osaka, prosecutors demanded the death penalty for Yasutoshi Kamata, 58, for murdering a 9-year-old girl and 4 women and abandoning their bodies in the mountains in Nara and Osaka Prefectures between 1985 and 1994
- JANUARY 1, 1999JapanDEATH PENALTY
The death penalty is provided for by the Criminal Procedure...
The death penalty is provided for by the Criminal Procedure Law and by the Penal Code for a number of offenses (13) but, in practice, it is applied only for murder
- JANUARY 1, 1999JapanDEATH PENALTY
Citing Buddhist teachings, which include mercy for...
Citing Buddhist teachings, which include mercy for others, the Buddhist sect known as Tendai which dates from the Heian period (794-1185), has called for the abolishment of capital punishment