Four death-row inmates were hanged Thursday, bringing to 10 the number of executions Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama has approved since he took office last August.
Hatoyama released the names and details of the inmates — in line with the new disclosure policy he earlier introduced — at a hastily arranged news conference.
"I must (issue) a very sad notice," he told reporters before revealing that Masato Sakamoto, 41, and Kaoru Akinaga, 61, went to the gallows at the Tokyo Detention House, while Katsuyoshi Nakamoto, 64, and Masaharu Nakamura, 61, were executed at the Osaka Detention House.