Japan's Justice Minister Toshio Ogawa

JAPAN: NEW JUSTICE MINISTER HINTS AT RESUMPTION OF EXECUTIONS

January 13, 2012: Japan's new Justice Minister Toshio Ogawa indicated he could resume issuing orders for executions given that the total number of death row inmates had risen to around 130, the largest number since the end of World War II.
''It's very hard duty, but I want to take job responsibility,'' Ogawa said in his first press conference after assuming the post. ''It isn't in line with the spirit of the law for the number of death row inmates to continue increasing without executions.''
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda had replaced five members of his Cabinet in a bid to win more cooperation from the opposition to raise the sales tax and rein in the country's bulging fiscal deficit. Toshio Ogawa, secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's upper house caucus, was appointed justice minister, replacing Hideo Hiraoka.
Ogawa, 63, served as senior vice justice minister when fellow Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Naoto Kan was prime minister between 2010 and 2011. He was a judge and a prosecutor before going into politics. (Sources: Kyodo, 13/01/2012)