TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan opened up its gallows to local media for the first time on Friday, a move that could spark debate in a country where the majority supports the death penalty.

Justice Minister Keiko Chiba has called for more disclosure and discussion on executions in light of a lay judge system introduced last year under which ordinary citizens, along with professional judges, can hand down death sentences.

Despite opposing capital punishment, Chiba signed off on the executions of two convicted killers and attended their hangings last month. She also set up a group to study the death penalty.

TV footage from inside the Tokyo Detention House showed the trap door, the viewing room and rooms where the inmate can meet a cleric, with a Buddhist altar and a Buddha statue. The noose was not shown.

“There was the smell of incense … The impression was that of sterile objects in a clean, carpeted room,” said a reporter from broadcaster NTV.

Footage also showed the “button room,” where three prison officers press a button at the same time to open the trap door, so that it is not clear which button opened the door.

Japan and the United States are the only Group of Eight rich countries that retain capital punishment. Japan has 107 inmates on death row.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan opened up its gallows for the first time to domestic media on Friday, a move that could spark public debate over executions in a country where a hefty majority supports retaining the death penalty.

Justice Minister Keiko Chiba, a known opponent of capital punishment, signed off on the executions of two convicted killers and attended their hangings last month. She set up a group within the ministry to study the death penalty.

TV footage from inside the Tokyo Detention House showed the trap door, the viewing room and rooms where the inmate can meet with a cleric, with a Buddhist altar and a Buddha statue. The trap door was closed and the rope was not exhibited.

“There was the smell of incense … The impression was that of sterile objects in a clean, carpeted room,” said a reporter from broadcaster NTV, among those taken to the prison in a bus, its windows obscured by curtains to hide the chamber’s location.

Footage also showed the “button room,” where three prison officers press a button at the same time to open the trap door, so that it is not clear which button opened the door.

Japan, along with the United States, is one of only two Group of Eight rich countries that retain capital punishment. It currently has 107 inmates on death row.

An overwhelming majority supports the death penalty in Japan. Last year, 86 percent said in a government survey that retaining the death penalty was unavoidable, up from 80 percent in 1999, though a recent NHK public TV survey put support at 57 percent.

TOKYO, Aug 26 (Reuters) – Japanese ruling party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa said on Thursday he would challenge Prime Minister Naoto Kan for the leadership next month, a battle analysts say could create a policy vacuum and push a surging yen higher.

Kan, who took over in June as Japan’s fifth prime minister in three years, is fighting for his job after an election loss last month deprived the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) of a majority in the upper house.

The DPJ-led government, which took power for the first time a year ago, is struggling to put a cap on the surging yen JPY=, which hit a 15-year high against the dollar this week and threatens to derail an export-led recovery. [ID:nTKB007015]

Analysts warned that Ozawa’s candidacy would create a policy vacuum, clearing the way for market players to push the yen higher against the dollar and threatening to cause further declines in share prices. [ID:nTOE67O09M]

“The fact that Ozawa has said he’ll run … means that whatever Kan might say about policy, the markets won’t listen,” said Norihiro Fujito, general manager at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ PM support remains sluggish: link.reuters.com/jad44n Japan’s massive public debt: r.reuters.com/sez92m For more stories on Japanese politics: [ID:nPOLJP] For stories on the Japanese economy: [ID:nECONJP] Analysis on Japan political risk r.reuters.com/jyj83n For a package of Reuters reports on the yen click: r.reuters.com/keb47n ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>

Ozawa has blasted Kan for floating, right before the July upper house election, the political sensitive idea of a future sales tax increase.

While Kan has since toned down those calls for debate on the tax — which he said was necessary to boost finances – Ozawa’s allies have called for a showdown in the party vote on Sept. 14.

TOKYO, Aug 23 (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa discussed the yen and agreed to work closely in a phone conversation on Monday, but Kan did not ask the central bank to make any monetary policy changes.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku also said the talks did not touch on currency intervention, after the yen recently hit 15-year highs, but declined to comment on whether the two men discussed the possibility of additional monetary easing.

The prime minister did not make any request on monetary policy to the central bank chief, Jiji news agency reported later, citing a BOJ source.

“They exchanged views on the economic and financial situation including foreign exchange,” Sengoku told a news conference. “They agreed that it was important for the government and the BOJ to communicate closely with each other.”

Sengoku added that the government wanted to consider whether Kan and Shirakawa should meet in person, although he did not give a timeframe.

Sources had told Reuters that Kan and Shirakawa may meet on Monday to craft a response to the surging yen JPY=, which is trading around at its highest level against the dollar since 1995, threatening to dent Japan’s export-reliant economy.

Markets have been rife with speculation that the BOJ may try to pre-empt government pressure for action and further loosen its already ultra-easy policy at an emergency meeting before or shortly after the talks between Shirakawa and Kan.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan apologized on Tuesday for Korea’s suffering under colonization, despite concern the gesture could reignite calls for wartime compensation.

Kan is seeking to prevent ties with major trading partner South Korea from being dragged back into periodic disputes stemming from Japan’s often-brutal 1910-1945 colonization of the peninsula and a territorial row over nearby islets.

“It is easy for the side that inflicted the pain to forget, while those who suffered that pain cannot easily forget,” Kan said in a statement to mark the centenary of Japan’s annexation of the Korean peninsula on August 29.

“I express a renewed feeling of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology for the tremendous damage and suffering caused by colonial rule.”

While Japan has apologized for its wartime actions, bitter memories still run deep among South Koreans who have been unhappy with comments from Japanese politicians and school textbooks that critics say whitewash its militaristic past.

Kan’s apology is in line with a landmark 1995 statement to Asian countries by then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of World War Two.

Lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties have worried that such an apology from Kan could lead to more compensation claims from wartime victims, but Kan said claims had been settled under a 1965 pact that established diplomatic ties.

TOKYO, July 12 (Reuters) – Japan’s climate bill, which backs the creation of an emissions trading scheme, faces an uncertain fate after the ruling Democratic Party and its ally lost their majority in a weekend election for parliament’s upper house.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) stays in power because it controls the more powerful lower house, but will need to seek new partners to control the upper chamber and pass bills smoothly.

The ruling bloc at present does not have a two-thirds majority in the lower house that is needed to override decisions made in the upper house.

Japan is the world’s fifth-biggest greenhouse gas emitter and has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020.

The target is among the most ambitious of all rich nations but has also sparked nationwide debate over how to attain it without hurting the world’s No.2 economy. [ID:nTOE63I04R]

The climate bill, shelved last month after parliament ran out of time to finish debate, would make the target legally binding and set a one-year deadline for the government to design a compulsory emissions trading system. Other measures to help Japan meet the target are also part of the bill. [ID:nTOE65L09F]

Below are some scenarios for the climate bill, which the government plans to resubmit to the next session of parliament.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s ruling party, mauled in Sunday’s upper house election, faces an uphill struggle to win new allies to back its policies to cut back huge public debt and probably bitter infighting over whether the premier should quit.

Voters dealt Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s Democratic Party of Japan a stinging rebuke in the election, depriving the DPJ and its tiny ally of a majority less than a year after the Democrats swept to power with promises of change.

Media projections showed Kan’s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won fewer than 50 seats and its partner, the People’s New Party, none. That was fewer than projected for the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and far short of Kan’s goal of winning 54.

It leaves Kan vulnerable to a challenge from inside his own party, though he said he would stay in his job. Kan is already the fifth prime minister that the world’s second-largest economy has had in three years.

“I want to accept the election results sincerely and continue responsible policies with the feeling that this is a new start line,” Kan told a news conference. He added he felt responsible for failing to fully explain his call for debate on the sales tax but would continue to call for multi-party talks on the topic.

The DPJ won power in a historic landslide just last year, ousting the long-dominant conservative Liberal Democrats with promises to cut waste and focus spending on consumers.

But public backing nosedived due to indecisive leadership and mishandling of a feud over a U.S. airbase.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Voters dealt Japan’s government a stinging blow in upper house elections on Sunday, a reverse that could thwart its ambitions to curb the country’s massive public debt and threatens Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s job.

Kan’s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) were set to win just 47 seats and its tiny partner, the People’s New Party, none, losing their combined majority in parliament’s upper house, exit polls showed.

The polls show the Democrats far short of Kan’s goal of winning 54 seats, a result that leaves him vulnerable to a challenge from inside his own party.

Kan, however, was quoted by public broadcaster NHK as telling a ruling party lawmaker that he would stay.

The Democrats, who have relied on the support of the People’s New Party to control the upper house, will almost certainly stay in power by virtue of their majority in parliament’s lower house.

But they will need to seek new partners to control the upper chamber, complicating policymaking as Japan struggles to engineer growth and rein in public debt nearly twice the size of GDP.

“Kan lost the election calling for a sales tax hike,” said Koichi Haji, chief economist at NLI Research Institute.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Kouta Matsuda is new at politics but hopes his experience managing a popular chain of coffee stores in Japan will give him and his small party an edge over rivals in a national election on Sunday.

“I’m going to first work on making the economy better,” the lean, floppy-haired Matsuda shouted from on top of a van in Tokyo’s busy Shinjuku district last weekend.

“We don’t have organisations or groups backing our party. It’s a tough fight, so we’re asking each one of you to vote for us,” he said to applause from the crowd, surrounded by campaign staff wearing aprons with the slogan “Fun, Energetic Japan!”

Matsuda, 41, is running from “Your Party”, the most popular of many small parties in the spotlight ahead of the July 11 upper house election because of the big role some could play in policymaking after the election is over.

Others include the pro-reform New Renaissance Party and the Buddhist-backed New Komeito, which stresses social welfare.

Insider TV:

Poll Won’t Deflect Sales Tax Push link.reuters.com/nar85m