Regarding the June 18 article "Death sentences on the increase": With the hanging of serial killer Tsutomu Miyazaki covered in the international press, a large number of Westerners have become aware of the fact that Japan is the only highly developed industrial country to practice capital punishment other than the United States.
What deeply shocked me when I read the article, though, is that Miyazaki's case is by no means an exception; on the contrary, executions are not only on the rise but also have broad public support in Japan. Nevertheless, as the actual practice depends to a certain extent on the respective justice minister and as law experts like Yoshihiro Yasuda oppose the death penalty, there seems to be some scope for change.
I seriously hope that Japan, as an important member state of the United Nations since 1956, stops trying to demonstrate to its people that killing is wrong by sentencing criminals to death. By rethinking its policy, the country would further improve its U.N. role and its cultural and economic relations with the West.
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