Japan executed three murderers June 17, including a serial killer who mutilated the bodies of young girls in the late 1980s in a case that triggered calls for tighter restrictions on violent pornographic videos.

Tsutomu Miyazaki KYODO PHOTO

Tsutomu Miyazaki, 45, who killed and mutilated four young girls, was hanged in Tokyo, said Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama.

Miyazaki burned the body of one 4-year-old and left her bones on her parents' doorstep. He also wrote letters to the media and victims' families taunting police. Reports said he ate part of the hand of one of his victims and drank her blood.

The two others executed were Shinji Mutsuda, 45, who had been on death row for the murder and robbery of two people, and Yoshio Yamasaki, 73, who was convicted of killing two people for insurance money, the Justice Ministry said in a statement.

"I ordered their executions because the cases were of indescribable cruelty," Hatoyama said. "We are pursuing executions in order to achieve justice and protect the rule of law."

Japan, one of the few industrialized countries that has capital punishment, has picked up the pace of executions over the past year amid rising concerns about violent crime.

The three executed June 17 brought to 13 the number of death-row inmates hanged in the past six months under Hatoyama, an outspoken supporter of the death penalty. Only one inmate was executed in 2005.

Hatoyama, who took office last August, denied his ministry was purposely picking up the pace of hangings. Three men were executed in December, three more in February and another four in April.