Media said it was former police officer Susumu Kitagawa, 58, who was convicted of murdering two women, rape and theft.

The last hanging took place Sept. 14, 2004, when two men were put to death, one of them convicted of stabbing to death eight elementary school children.

The country's comparatively secretive way of carrying out executions has come under fire from international human rights groups, but a government survey in February said 81.4 percent of Japanese support capital punishment.

But with Japan and the United States among only a handful of advanced nations where the death penalty is carried out, questions are being raised and international pressure increased.

The Japan Times Weekly: Sept. 24, 2005
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