Japan/China | The ‘festival’ that turned out to be a raucous public execution

I once witnessed a public execution in China. It was in the early summer of 1993.

As a student studying abroad, I was traveling in the Tibet Autonomous Region in southwestern China and happened to see the public spectacle of killing criminals in the town of Lhasa.

Even now, recalling it makes me feel a twinge of pain deep in my chest. It’s an unforgettable memory.

Suffering from altitude sickness, I was heavy-headed and lying down in my hotel during the day when I heard the unusually loud noise of many voices. Curious about what was happening, I went outside and saw a bustling crowd along the road.

Without thinking, I asked one of the people if it was a festival. A Tibetan man, deeply tanned, showed an expression of slight bewilderment before saying, "It's an execution.”

Led by police motorcycles painted white, a truck slowly appeared. I could see several men standing in the back, bound and heads bowed.

"They are robbers," someone said.

The crowd was excited and some youths threw stones at the condemned.

At the riverbank on the outskirts of the town, the execution took place. The sound of dry gunfire went off.

"Bang, bang."

I remember the eyes filled with hatred and the faces brimming with joy among the crowd. That brutal spectacle of making an example of someone perhaps truly encapsulates the essence of the death penalty.

I have been haunted by this question, which has continued to linger in my mind.

A private-sector panel called "Discussion Group Thinking About Japan's Death Penalty System" has compiled recommendations stating that the death penalty harbors "fundamental problems" such as wrongful convictions.

The panel was organized by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations but encompasses a broad spectrum of experts, including a former prosecutor general and a former commissioner general of the National Police Agency. It’s a movement that makes one feel the changes of the times.

The simple fact is that capital punishment involves taking a human life. When we thoroughly contemplate the weight of this fact with all its implications, we inevitably face the question of whether the current system should continue as it is.

I feel an undeniable need for the Japanese to have an honest and thoughtful discussion over this matter.

Source: asahi.com, Vox Populi, Vox Dei, November 18, 2024. Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a daily column that runs on Page 1 of The Asahi Shimbun. Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde