Justice Minister Eisuke Mori supports the death penalty because it helps maintain the social order and eases the mental pain of crime victims' families.
Though he was vague during an interview Wednesday on whether he will have death-row inmates sent to the gallows, he said he will follow in the footsteps of recent justice ministers.
His immediate predecessor, Okiharu Yasuoka, signed off on three executions even though he held the office for only about a month, and Yasuoka's predecessor, Kunio Hatoyama, ordered 13 executions during his 12-month stint, the most hangings by a single justice minister since at least 1993.