Path: news.ccsf.jp!tomockey.ddo.jp!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!local02.nntp.dca.giganews.com!news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:04:29 -0500 From: "Ubiquitous" Newsgroups: alt.tv.reality,japan.tv,rec.arts.tv Subject: Japanese broadcaster says it will air recording of execution Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:04:29 -0400 Keywords: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080416090946.ja0kin4d&show_article=1 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.3138 X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Original X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3198 Message-ID: Lines: 49 X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com X-Trace: sv3-tPfckx2+UJPU/dV9QfA80T8lr1fA7s00co3CRrbgYuHcqdhsPIuf3ksQdraj4wWMDmb4FJNsf0rOpDe!uEIE0n6WobkYPf8ANWcJdew2rUqW4ojrM1ydVeWHlKzo7hyIbWAIcBDszMbXlmQwJBlCPyKY/tR9 X-Complaints-To: abuse@giganews.com X-DMCA-Notifications: http://www.giganews.com/info/dmca.html X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.39 Xref: news.ccsf.jp japan.tv:211 A Japanese radio broadcaster said Wednesday that it would air a 1955 recording of a death row inmate's final hours, including the moment he was hanged. No sounds or images from actual executions have previously been broadcast in Japan, a justice ministry official said, adding that the authenticity of the recording was unknown. Nippon Culture Broadcasting, which has listeners in Tokyo and its surrounding areas, will air the 55-minute programme on May 6, said Katsuhiko Shimizu, who was involved in the production. The documentary features the unidentified male inmate being told he would be executed that day, he said. Listeners may also hear his last conversation with a prison official as Buddhist sutras are heard in the background. The official has yet to give his consent that part being broadcast. Shimizu said the tape was recorded at the Osaka detention house in western Japan, partly for the education of prison officials. He did not disclose how the company obtained it. The Osaka detention centre said it had no knowledge of such a recording. "We are surprised about the reported tape," spokesman Masami Akashi said. "We have no idea about it and no written record of it." Japan, the only major industrial country other than the United States to use the death penalty, only informs death row inmates when they will be hanged on the day of the execution. Last week Japan hanged four convicted murderers as it stepped up the pace of executions. Shimizu said the company decided to air the recording as "people know too little about executions". "As it's almost a year to go to the introduction of a lay judge system in Japan, we want to give people an opportunity to think about the possibility that they may be in the position to decide on a death penalty," he said. -- It is simply breathtaking to watch the glee and abandon with which the liberal media and the Angry Left have been attempting to turn our military victory in Iraq into a second Vietnam quagmire. Too bad for them, it's failing.