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| Tokyo Execution Chamber |
The European Union delegation to Japan will exhibit documents relating to executed murderer and noted writer Norio Nagayama this month to “stimulate discussion and reflection on the issue of the death penalty.”
The eight-day exhibition starting next Thursday, the World Day against the Death Penalty, will display 10 panels on Nagayama, who gunned down four people over the course of two months in 1968 at the age of 19 and later became an award-winning writer through intensive study in prison, as well as some of his personal possessions.
Nagayama, a neglected child who grew up in difficult circumstances, wrote several books before he was hanged in 1997, including a best-selling autobiography, “Muchi no Namida” (“Tears of Ignorance”), while reading numerous books on a range of subjects, including the judicial system and philosophy.
The exhibit in the EU’s office in Minato Ward, Tokyo, will include handwritten manuscripts of his books.
“His writing allowed him not only to atone, but also to convey his thoughts and message to Japanese society,” EU Ambassador to Japan Hans Dietmar Schweisgut said in an email interview.
“Today, his case continues to raise issues around the death penalty in Japan: prison conditions, circumstances of executions (secrecy, extended time on death row), and the limited possibilities of pardon or sentence commutation,” he said.
The EU opposes capital punishment, with High Representative Catherine Ashton issuing a statement on Japan’s execution of a prisoner in September that said the bloc “believes that the death penalty is cruel and inhumane and that its abolition is essential to protect human dignity.”
Ashton called on Japanese authorities “to consider seriously a moratorium on executions and to promote a thorough public debate on moving away from capital punishment, in line with the worldwide trend.”
Source: The Japan Times, October 4, 2013
