Justice Minister Hatoyama = Grim Reaper?

Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama has approved the execution of 13 death row inmates since he assumed his post last August, a very high number that has led the Asahi Shinbun to use the term “Grim Reaper” [shinigami] when referring to him in a recent article. Hatoyama was not amused:

“It’s an insult to those who were executed. They were not taken away by the Reaper at all,” said Hatoyama during a press conference after a Cabinet meeting on Friday.

Hatoyama lambasted the Asahi Shimbun for a column carried in its evening edition on Wednesday, one day after serial girl killer Tsutomu Miyazaki and two other death row inmates were executed.

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“The media observes (the number of executions I ordered) as something like a baseball player’s batting average, but I’m fulfilling my responsibility as justice minister in a somber manner in order to bring about justice,” said Hatoyama.

“Ordering executions that claim human lives is hard to stomach for me, but I ordered them for the sake of social justice. Miyazaki, the death row inmate who caused horrendous incidents, also has human rights and dignity. It was a ridiculous sentence,” said Hatoyama, referring to the article.