Death Penalty Opponent Keiko Chiba: No Longer Justice Minister
The results of Prime Minister Kan’s cabinet reshuffling are in, and one of the ministers being replaced is Keiko Chiba (who had lost her seat in the Upper House election). When she was selected as Justice Minister under the first Kan cabinet, there was a lot of speculation about whether her longtime opposition to the death penalty would get in the way with her duty to authorize the executions of death row inmates. During her term in office she did sign off on a couple executions, but she also took the extraordinary step of opening Japan’s execution chambers to the media. She was hoping that media coverage would help stimulate public debate about the existence of capital punishment.
The new justice minister is Minoru Yanagida. Apparently he was given little notice about his new job, because yesterday night’s news contained a soundbite from Yanagida claiming that he did not yet have a position on the death penalty. He said he would “look into” the issue (“勉強します”). A news article from this morning states that he considers it the duty of justice ministers to authorize punishments handed down by courts.
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