Yasuhiro Hanashi sacked over flippant Death Penalty comments

[NewYorkExpress]

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/12/japans-justice-minister-quits-over-death-sentence-comments

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delayed his departure for three upcoming summits in Southeast Asia to sack and replace his justice minister who was widely criticised over an offhand remark he made about approving capital punishment.

Justice Minister Yasuhiro Hanashi told reporters on Friday that he had submitted his resignation to Kishida, two days after he commented at a party meeting that his low-profile job only made the noon news when he used his “hanko” stamp to approve death penalties in the morning.

.....

Kishida, who has a reputation as indecisive, denied that he took Hanashi’s comments lightly. He later told reporters he accepted Hanashi’s resignation because his “careless remark” had damaged public trust in the justice system.

Kishida said he appointed former Agriculture Minister Ken Saito, a Harvard-educated former trade ministry bureaucrat, as Hanashi’s replacement.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Kishida's probably not the highest on political capital right now...

[CumbrianLefty]

Not much chance of Japan scrapping the death penalty in the foreseeable, is there?

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Not much chance of Japan scrapping the death penalty in the foreseeable, is there?

And what, make it so that people can't get executed no matter how heinous of a crime they have done? Maybe that could happen if a non-LDP government is elected; then again a lot of things are possibly made a possibility in such a scenario. I don't think it would be popular to do this, though. Its application in Japan is already, as I understand it, at least somewhat limited, only a very small number of people in a country almost equivalent in population to France and UK combined. But this being Japan, something like cults or nuclear power is a bigger social issue than gay marriage, abortion, or the death penalty.

[CumbrianLefty]

Not much chance of Japan scrapping the death penalty in the foreseeable, is there?

And what, make it so that people can't get executed no matter how heinous of a crime they have done?

Well yes, that is how it works in most developed countries that are not the US.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Not much chance of Japan scrapping the death penalty in the foreseeable, is there?

And what, make it so that people can't get executed no matter how heinous of a crime they have done?

Well yes, that is how it works in most developed countries that are not the US.

Most developed countries in Europe.
Meanwhile roughly three-fifths of the globe lives in countries that still use the death penalty. This includes at least a significant minority of people in developed Asian counties. (Depends on where the bar lies...the lower it goes, the more the math moves higher)
Now, there is an association, club, whatever you call it, of parliamentarians that does support what you are proposing. 亀井 靜香 (Shizuka Kamei) was involved in its operations.
Here's a Japanese wikipedia link to provide more info on this. left click to enable google translate Japanese to English.

 He left office in 2017. His daughter, 亀井 紀子 (Akiko Kamei) is continuing the family business of politics. I would imagine she probably continues to oppose the death penalty like her father, but she doesn't seem to have made any statements about this.

[CumbrianLefty]

Not much chance of Japan scrapping the death penalty in the foreseeable, is there?

And what, make it so that people can't get executed no matter how heinous of a crime they have done?

Well yes, that is how it works in most developed countries that are not the US.

Most developed countries in Europe.

Again - *developed* countries. Whilst much of Asia retains and uses CP, it is almost gone from South America practically speaking - and even several African countries have moved against it recently.

Maybe about 60 UN members still have it meaningfully. That's a clear minority of all states.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Not much chance of Japan scrapping the death penalty in the foreseeable, is there?

And what, make it so that people can't get executed no matter how heinous of a crime they have done?

Well yes, that is how it works in most developed countries that are not the US.

Most developed countries in Europe.

Again - *developed* countries. Whilst much of Asia retains and uses CP, it is almost gone from South America practically speaking - and even several African countries have moved against it recently.

Maybe about 60 UN members still have it meaningfully. That's a clear minority of all states.

What I was getting at is that there is a clear cultural difference between regions in regards to the death penalty, and this transcends developed or developing status.
And regions where it's more acceptable hold a pretty substantial share of the global population. If we're limiting ourself to just Asia...it may be home to only a quarter of global states, but those states have about three in five human beings...It's a bit besides the point only roughly barely less than a third of UN members actively use the death penalty. Reminder that Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal together has almost as much or more people than the European Union...and that's just three Indian states put together.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Not much chance of Japan scrapping the death penalty in the foreseeable, is there?

No, although to be fair to the Japanese, a conservative DOJ official or state AG saying something like this in the United States would probably be offered a show on OANN or Newsmax rather than the sack.