Kenjiro Ishii spent most of his life seeking a retrial. Still hoping for another court appearance, the paroled death-row inmate died on the morning of Nov. 7 at a hospital in Kumamoto Prefecture at age 91.
"I am mortified to think that Ishii did not live to win a retrial," said Ryuji Furukawa, whose family championed his cause for more than 40 years.
"It just made me so sad looking at him while he was still alive, feeling unwell. It made me wonder what kind of life it had been for him."