Japan hangs two death-row inmates

TOKYO — Japan hanged two death-row inmates on Friday, the justice ministry said, bringing the number of executions so far this year to five. One of those was Junya Hattori, 40, who raped and kidnapped a 19-year-old college student in 2002 before burning her to death at a construction site in the central city of Mishima, the ministry said. Kyozo Matsumura, 31, was hanged in Osaka for killing two of his relatives in 2007 and stealing their money. In March, Japan resumed its use of capital punishment after a 20-month break with an unapologetic government minister signing death warrants for three multiple murderers. Japan did not execute anybody in 2011, the first year in nearly two decades it did not carry out a single death sentence amid a muted debate on the rights and wrongs of the policy.

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