＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
The government seems to be considering “suspending executions for the time being” on the grounds that this year (2019) is the “year of the imperial succession.”
But is this really a necessary and appropriate measure?
1. Current status of the death penalty around the world
Currently, Japan, the U.S., China, North Korea, Uganda, and Russia (although Russia has frozen executions since 1996) are among the few countries that have the death penalty, and many European countries have abolished it.
However, according to the latest public opinion poll conducted by the Cabinet Office, 80.3% of people in Japan are in favor of the death penalty, while 9.7% are in favor of abolishing it.
The possibility of wrongful convictions is sometimes cited as a justification for abolishing the death penalty, but this does not give repose to the victims who died without having committed any crime.
Considering the deterrent effect of the system and the desire of victims to punish the perpetrators, I think it is necessary for it to continue.
I’ve heard that there are more than 100 people on death row in Japan who have not yet been executed.
2. The Minister of Justice’s responsibility for not carrying out the death penalty
Among past Ministers of Justice, there have been “men who never carried out the death penalty during their term of office” and “men who publicly stated that they would not carry out death penalty executions because they were abolitionists.”
I believe that the former is “a gross dereliction of duty,” and the latter is “someone who should decline the offer to become Minister of Justice.”
3. Proposal for “compliance with laws” regarding execution of the death penalty
Article 475 of the Code of Criminal Procedure clearly states:
（1） The death penalty shall be executed by order of the Minister of Justice.
（2）The order referred to in the preceding paragraph must be issued within six months from the date on which the sentence becomes final. However, the period until the completion of procedures for restoration of the right to appeal or a request for retrial, an extraordinary appeal, or an application or offer for pardon, and the period until the sentence against co-defendants becomes final shall not be included in the said period.
In other words, since it is stipulated that “after a death sentence is finalized, the Minister of Justice will sign it within a certain period of time and the death sentence will be carried out,” I believe that the death sentence should be carried out one after another in a quiet manner.
On the other hand, wouldn’t dragging it out be an act of (negligence) by the executive branch that goes against the separation of powers?
In the past, Minister of Justice Kunio Hatoyama caused controversy by saying, “Can’t the execution of the death penalty be carried out mechanically?” However, what he really meant was, “The Minister of Justice alone must decide which death row inmates to execute and when to execute them, and he feels that this is a heavy responsibility and anguish,” and I believe that this was by no means an irresponsible statement.
4. The appropriateness of postponing executions this year
There is no connection between the “succession to the throne” and the “execution of the death penalty,” and I don’t think it will be an obstacle. Shouldn’t the Minister of Justice quietly carry out the execution?