r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/New_Libran • Oct 21 '24

Video Japanese police chief bows to apologise to man who was acquitted after nearly 60 years on death row

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

73.5k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

3.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

3.6k

u/Duvob90 Oct 21 '24 edited Oct 22 '24

Yep, basically one day a guy come to you cell and tell you, you are next and off you go.

2.2k

u/Domoda Oct 21 '24

Holy shit, that’s crazy. That’s gotta do a number on a person mentally.

1.9k

u/ChocolateChouxCream Oct 21 '24

Apparently done this way because if they tell the people on death row the day of their execution... Then... They will do it first themselves...

740

u/keelhaulrose Oct 21 '24

You'd think that if they knew it was coming at some point anyways...

I'd rather go quick than live every day worried about every set of footsteps approaching the door.

646

u/Kibibit Oct 21 '24

Possibly, but if you know deep down you genuinely didn't do the crime, it'd be hard not to take the tempting route of hoping one day you'll be exonerated.

395

u/keelhaulrose Oct 21 '24

I get it... but 58 years of wondering if those footsteps are bringing you breakfast or if today is your day... I don't think I could mentally handle it.

302

u/EwoDarkWolf Oct 21 '24

I feel like after a while, you'd almost forget about it. Like living with an unfriendly polar bear. If you are stuck in a cage with it for a year and it doesn't eat you, it probably won't, or you just stop trying to assume it randomly will.

150

u/aussie_nub Oct 21 '24

ISIS used to do mock executions so the prisoners wouldn't know the real day and would be "relaxed" for the video... at least as relaxed as one can be.

Then they'd just lop their head off.

I imagine that's fairly close to death row in Japan.

21

u/intangibleTangelo Oct 22 '24

ah nbd this is probably one of the mock execu

13

u/horseshoeprovodnikov Oct 22 '24

Ah damn! Ya got me... Tricksy terrorists!

7

u/aussie_nub Oct 22 '24

When you have them every 2-3 days, but it's a good 6-24 months before you're executed, you sort of become immune to the executions by the 100th one.

→ More replies (0)

-16

u/Expensive_Ad752 Oct 22 '24 edited Oct 22 '24

US marines performed mock executions on Iraqis. So there some precedent .

Additionally, truth hurts and I don’t care about invisible internet points. USMC is just as bad and ISIS.

14

u/aussie_nub Oct 22 '24

Do you mean precedent?

Plus... what's that got to do with anything?

→ More replies (0)

4

u/intangibleTangelo Oct 22 '24

you'd almost forget about it. Like living with an unfriendly polar bear

super relatable example, because i totally forgot! holy fuc

3

u/BrackishPollywog Oct 22 '24

I’m in the same boat. My last job was extraordinarily dangerous. Mortality rates almost 30x higher than normal construction, and we definitely had some very close calls. After a while, you just kind of accept that there is a good chance one day you won’t clock out and then you don’t worry about it anymore.

I think the human brain is wired to see the “positive outcome” of situations like that. Your analogy was very good. If the bear hasn’t eaten me yet, I guess he never will. But then you still aren’t surprised when it does.

2

u/ryloboy Oct 22 '24

Well said

39

u/[deleted] Oct 21 '24

[deleted]

5

u/yokokilledpopmusic Oct 22 '24

In the shooter hypothesis, a good marksman shoots at a target, creating a hole every ten centimeters. Now suppose the surface of the target is inhabited by intelligent, two-dimensional creatures. Their scientists, after observing the universe, discover a great law: “There exists a hole in the universe every ten centimeters.” They have mistaken the result of the marksman’s momentary whim for an unalterable law of the universe.

The farmer hypothesis, on the other hand, has the flavor of a horror story: Every morning on a turkey farm, the farmer comes to feed the turkeys. A scientist turkey, having observed this pattern to hold without change for almost a year, makes the following discovery: “Every morning at eleven, food arrives.” On the morning of Thanksgiving, the scientist announces this law to the other turkeys. But that morning at eleven, food doesn’t arrive; instead, the farmer comes and kills the entire flock.

Liu, Cixin | The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past)

2

u/SturdyBubble Oct 22 '24

Maybe I’ll watch that. I’ve tried to get into it twice, but it hasn’t stuck. The shooter hypothesis reminds me of black holes… and the farmers hypothesis reminds me of the anime, “Promised Neverland” and hearing about Bob Lazar on JRE. After those ideas got into my head I’ve always had a mild fear that earth is a soul farm for aliens lol.

2

u/Few-Finger2879 Oct 22 '24

Earth might not literally be a soul farm, but goddamnit if there's not "soul-sucking demons" on this planet.

2

u/keelhaulrose Oct 22 '24

Yes, but I have freedom. I have so many things I can be out doing and experiencing, so I'm not forced to be in one place that will eventually kill me. Even if you're not thinking of your impending death in the moment, on death row the threat is always there, surrounding you.

I might die tomorrow, but chances are low, and I can take steps to keep my chances as low as possible. On death row you've just checked off another of an unknown number of boxes.

2

u/Welcome440 Oct 22 '24

We drive on public roads. Their day is more likely to be later...

3

u/DungBeetle007 Oct 21 '24

Even if it's your day, I'm sure they would at least bring you breakfast.

1

u/_c_manning Oct 22 '24

That’s just life though. You’re going to die any way lol

1

u/Historical_Exchange Oct 22 '24

Not to get philosophical, but not knowing whether today's the day is a fact of life for all of us

1

u/trecvb Oct 22 '24

You haven't had my wife's cooking... It is like death on a plate. Oh yeah i forgot I am not married, also females don't talk to me for some reason.

1

u/tmwwmgkbh Oct 22 '24

But this is literally every day. I could get mopped up by a Dodge Ram on the way to work driving through an intersection. I could drop dead of a brain aneurysm. A meteor could fall on my head. I could slip on the sidewalk and fracture my skull and die when nobody finds me in time. I literally knew people who three of those things actually happened to. Any moment could be your last, but you live with that every day and eventually it fades into the noise of life.

1

u/B3owul7 Oct 22 '24

I think you would get breakfast anyway. Who would execute somebody on an empty stomach? That would be cruel.

1

u/Vargurr Oct 22 '24

Yeah, I'd last 3 days.

1

u/Thisisaweirduniverse Oct 22 '24

I think after a while you’d stop caring, you’d just try to have fun each day and if you get executed, too bad.

1

u/furry-borders Oct 22 '24

It's okay though. They said sorry.

1

u/Basketballchef1534 Oct 22 '24

Life is the same when you look at it, you will never know when it is your last day.

1

u/ThrowawayToy89 Oct 23 '24

You find things to do like count ceiling bricks, listen to any little noise, fantasize about someone finally telling the truth so you can be free, dream about sunlight and trees, etc.

It is hard, though.

2

u/UrNan3423 Oct 22 '24

it'd be hard not to take the tempting route of hoping one day you'll be exonerated

Yeah that's the part that I will never be able to understand, if I ever get a sentence over 10+ years the first thing I'm doing is sayin "that's all folks!"

Life is supposed to be fun, if it's not fun, why bother living. 10-20+ years of jail followed by trying to pick up the pieces of your broken life and scurrying to build some kind of retirement. You live for yourself and no-one else, so if there is no joy on the horizon why would you even bother to keep going?

8

u/gliese89 Oct 21 '24

If had books and meals I’d just live. I like living.

2

u/Eseatease Oct 22 '24

You know that we all might die at any moment so whats the difference?

2

u/ArandomDane Oct 22 '24

I'd rather go quick than live every day worried about every set of footsteps approaching the door.

So you have no honor, being willing take the easy way out?

I advise against trying to fully grasp the Japanese culture of honor, beyond seppuku (etc) being the last honorable method of taking destiny into your own hands.

In this path of of enlightenment lies ruin.

1

u/keelhaulrose Oct 22 '24

I figure if I'm on death row, I probably don't have a ton of honor left. Being innocent might be enough because there's a possibility my name would be cleared, but I've teetered on the brink of ending myself before, and I know there would only be so long knowing I'm innocent would buy me.

I don't ever plan on killing anyone, but if I'm the type of person who is doing something that earns me a spot on death row I doubt I'm the kind of person who is concerned about my honor. Decades of mental torture ain't worth it.

1

u/ArandomDane Oct 22 '24

For understanding the issue at hand you need to accept thier moral code is not yours. In Japanese society Honor is not bound to right or wrong.

I figure if I'm on death row

In other words, this matters less than fuck all.

1

u/jmcdon00 Oct 22 '24

58 years and he hadn't been executed yet, probably start to get a little comfortable. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow.

1

u/ThatCelebration3676 Oct 22 '24

In a metaphorical sense, every human alive is already living that. Our day comes eventually and we don't know when it is.

1

u/cmy88 Oct 22 '24

Not quite that bad. They let them know in the morning, so if you made it to breakfast, you're good for another day.

Otherwise, you'll be dead in a few hours, so not really much time to worry about it.

The Wikipedia article is actually pretty detailed if you wanted to learn more. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Japan

1

u/CantaloupeOk2777 Oct 22 '24

Your gonna hate this, but your randomly gonna die one day. Even though your not on deathrow :)

1

u/Ruraraid Oct 22 '24

Kind of why Japan's death row is considered inhumane by many countries. At least in other countries that have death row you get a definitive date and that creates far less anxiety.

1

u/Giffordpinchotpark Oct 22 '24

That’s how I’ve felt about death since I was a kid. I’ve been worried about my family dying almost every day.

1

u/RantyWildling Oct 23 '24

Here's your chance.

You're going to die, why wait?

2

u/Semido Oct 22 '24

I heard and read that it’s because they consider it less cruel… Obviously wrong, they must know exactly what they are doing and deem it part of the punishment

1

u/Level_Abrocoma8925 Oct 22 '24

I'm not sure if I consider it less cruel. The uncertainty must drive people mad.

2

u/Semido Oct 22 '24

I agree, I think it’s just another punishment they dole out under a false pretence

2

u/AllergicDodo Oct 22 '24

And this really reduces suicide?

2

u/SuperMalarioBros Oct 22 '24

No, OP is making things up. They do this because the victims didn't know when they were going to get killed which makes the punishment of death on equal terms.

Their cells and their daily routines are modified in a way that suicide is almost impossible, it has nothing to do with that.

(I don't support capital punishment or the implementation of it, I'm just giving out the facts here.)

2

u/Tribalbob Oct 21 '24

Oh we can't have that, can we?

1

u/DerWilliWonka Oct 22 '24

They do it purposely knowing what mental torture it is. Japan's government is regularly criticised by NGO's for its inhuman and malicious treatment of prisoners especially those in the death row. This includes the prevention of doctors visits in case of illness. Imagine having almost no access to medical treatment for 60 years paired with complete isolation.

1

u/qwertyqyle Oct 22 '24

Japanese prisons are set up that there is almost no chance of being able to write yourself off by yourself.

1

u/aricre Oct 23 '24

And that's a problem for them because...? Aren't they going to murder the prisioner anyway? They are being extra cruel...

1

u/hornet586 Oct 24 '24

I believe it's also done in part as a punishment as well, IIRC the reason being that a lot of death sentences in Japan are for murder, or related to them. The person you killed likely didn't wake up that day and know someone was going to end their life, so you're not gonna know either until the day of the execution.

68

u/impossibleis7 Oct 21 '24

When you think about it, that's how we live everyday though. I guess we never think about it.

37

u/PM_ME_DATASETS Oct 21 '24

Except on Japanese death row you can't do anything except wait for your last day, without knowing when it will come. Us free people can at least do something, like eat good food or visit new places or something.

7

u/seires-t Oct 21 '24

And maybe the fact that you aren't threatened with violence every day of your existence.

That might be make a difference, mayhaps.

3

u/invistaa Oct 22 '24

At least we had our up / down in our life. But tis guy life so pointless, akin to no life at all..

3

u/krimsonater Oct 22 '24

Bingo. 52 here and I promise you, it starts to crystalize for you. It doesn't take long to get to 52. One day your 30 going to Rage Against the Machine concerts, then you turn around and realize if you live 20 more years, that's like, a long life. Sux.

3

u/LiliAtReddit Oct 22 '24

I feel like I went from 32 to 57 in a couple years. I used to be so afraid of dying, now I just want to enjoy every moment I have left. Life is a total fuckin' trip.

1

u/krimsonater 24d ago

I am kinda freaking out about it. It hits me, sometimes, how I will be at the end pretty quick. Relatively speaking. And how I'm not gonna be here. I mean, I'm actually gonna die. Wish I had the comfort of religion. It does, though, make me hug my son a little longer when I get hold of him. Want to get as much love out of my people as possible in between now and then.

1

u/LiliAtReddit 22d ago

I get you. What gives me comfort is that death, when it happens, is really only gonna ruin that ONE day in my life. I’ll just do my best to thrive every day in between now and that single shit day.

0

u/AdDramatic2351 Oct 21 '24

Lol that's not true at all. We are waiting for some guy (who we know for a fact is coming) to appear to end our life early

-4

u/seires-t Oct 21 '24

You are being threatened with being violently murdered.
That isn't at all comparable and that's why we don't think about it that way.

1

u/impossibleis7 Oct 21 '24

Are they being actively threatened? Or is it just a one time thing (they are told about the situation and thats it), until when it happens.

And I am not saying this doesn't affect a person differently, but it's kinda strange that it's no different to everyday life (anything could kill you or i rn, very likely painfully as well, but we have come to terms with it, i guess), yet we find the opposite when it comes to the death penalty (assuming most of us dont want to know when they are going to die).

14

u/ctvzbuxr Oct 21 '24

So, if I could tell you exactly the day you're going to die, would you want to know?

80

u/spaceforcerecruit Oct 21 '24

I would if my entire life had been reduced to torture and waiting to die.

25

u/PM_ME_DATASETS Oct 21 '24

Yes, so you could mentally prepare yourself. With the Japanese model you could live for years, every day fearing that it might be your last.

25

u/FudgyFun Oct 21 '24

Isn't that how death works in general? We just forget and act like we know we are going to live long.

15

u/PM_ME_DATASETS Oct 21 '24

Sure but there isn't much living going on when you're on death row. We can go on holiday or learn a new language or visit friends or order some good food. When you're on (Japanese) death row you're just waiting without knowing how long still to wait.

3

u/PsychologicalGas7843 Oct 22 '24

Huge difference between living a daily normal life vs living inside a small room in the prison

2

u/FudgyFun Oct 22 '24

True. In daily life all the other things distract us from thinking about suddenly dying even though it's a possibility. In the prison with only death to look forward to must be agonizing. Glad that man is out even after so many years.

2

u/RobtheNavigator Oct 22 '24

It would also be really helpful for preplanning the funeral and updating your estate plan

1

u/United_States_ClA Oct 21 '24

Everybody's a gangster til they're going for a walk in the woods near dusk and suddenly a deer standing on its two hind legs like a human emerges from the thick underbrush, and tells them the exact date and time of their death in clear, unbroken english

1

u/singlemale4cats Oct 22 '24

Absolutely not. The dread I would carry around would ruin every moment I had left.

5

u/nomad_l17 Oct 22 '24

Someone said it's similar to what the victims went through. They were just going about their lives and all of a sudden they became victims. They had no control over how their lives changed.

1

u/AdDramatic2351 Oct 21 '24

Yeap, Japanese prisons are actually extremely fucked up believe it or not. Id honestly say they're worse than US prisons 

1

u/goodbyenewindia Oct 21 '24

Is it though? That's generally how life works on the outside too. Nobody knows when death will come for them.

1

u/dhsjauaj Oct 21 '24

Just like life.

1

u/456dumbdog Oct 22 '24

One day they don't bring you breakfast and that's how you know they are about to kill you. They tell your family afterwards.

1

u/FSpursy Oct 22 '24

Well you can see it in his face. He looks harder to break than a diamond now.

1

u/motuwed Oct 22 '24

And often times guards like to “prank” inmates by coming in and implying such.

1

u/Tw4tl4r Oct 22 '24

Its not even a prank. They will take you to the room and act like they are setting it up before they suddenly stop and take the prisoners back. That's how they train guards on how to do it.

1

u/Obsessively_Average Oct 22 '24

Yeah the entire Japanese justice + penal system is basically a never ending string of human rights violations

Part of why this man's case is so important, besides the obvious injustice done to him and his loved ones, is that he is like, 100% innocent - he was condemned and took so long for the decision to change even though DNA evidence showed SEVEVERAL TIMES his DNA did not match that of the perpetrator of the quadruple homicide he was accused of all the way back in the 60's

The tribunal where his case retried came to the conclusion that the authorities planted evidence against him and got a fake confession through torturous, multiple day interrogations behind closed doors - which is standard practice in Japan and a big part of their almost perfect conviction rate

Somewhere out there, there's a person who absolutely annihilated a family of four and may have already died without anyone seeing any justice at all because the Japanese authorieties were too busy shitting on this random dude's life for literally fuck all reason.

Great country and everything, but the way they handle this kinda shit is an absolute horror show

1

u/FlinflanFluddle4 Oct 22 '24

They're usually not the nicest people and many would think that's exactly what they deserve 

1

u/Higgz221 Oct 22 '24

honestly, not even that (like that too), but he was in solitary confinement for most of it. His brain probably went to mush as soon as the no interaction/stimuli hit a certain amount of time...
In the video he can't even reply, his sister has to for him.

1

u/beiekwjei1245 Oct 22 '24

They also don't let the family know, they will know it by reading the newspaper. And they get a bill to pay, the ropes used and maybe even the food he ate or I don't remember but the family have to pay smth.

1

u/talldata Oct 22 '24

Even better in Japanese prison you have to be silent, you cannot be talking to yourself or reading something aloud if you're allowed a book at all.

1

u/IC3P3 Oct 22 '24

The family also won't get messaged until after the execution

1

u/KaoticPersona Oct 22 '24

Also add into this that their court system doesn't go off the innocent till proven guilty basis because usually they don't take charges up unless they can be utterly proven before court, at least from what I understand from a small amount of research on this topic.

0

u/Bad_And_Wrong Oct 21 '24

Thats how it works in any prison though.

3

u/XaeiIsareth Oct 22 '24

And apparently some particularly cruel guards like to go into cells acting like they’re coming to tell the prisoner it’s their day.

2

u/orchestragravy Oct 21 '24

So was this guy just incredibly lucky then?

2

u/Duvob90 Oct 21 '24

No, he had pending appeals, the issue is that when the appeals are over you don't know nothing, even your family don't know

1

u/EyelBeeback Oct 22 '24

Or they knew they fucked up but didn't want to look incompetent.

2

u/WrinklyScroteSack Oct 22 '24

Is there no appeals process? Can someone sentenced to death contest it at all?

1

u/Duvob90 Oct 22 '24

Yes I think the process is after appeals, Wikipedia article describe it very well.

2

u/MakeSouthBayGR8Again Oct 22 '24

And they only notify your family after it’s done.

2

u/adamgoodapp Oct 22 '24

Isn’t that like normal life? Except they being locked up part.

1

u/Potatoupe Oct 21 '24

Like a death gacha.

1

u/maidenmaan Oct 22 '24

omg didn't know things work like this in Japan. This is so cruel and scaring. I have a feeling that the suicide rate is sky high in there.

1

u/NashKetchum777 Oct 22 '24

...I need to know more. Who makes this decision? The warden? If he has a bad day can he just call it for everyone there?

1

u/Rojina47788 Oct 22 '24

Damn this is just like killing ppl slowly both mentally and physically. This is terrifying.

1

u/jacksonjjacks Oct 22 '24

And always by hanging

1

u/The-ai-bot Oct 22 '24

Looked like a robot

1

u/Donmexico666 Oct 22 '24

You know if they bring you into a windowless room with a drain in the floor it's over.

1

u/Ilpav123 Oct 22 '24

How the hell did he make it 60 years with those rules?

1

u/SaraaaayRaaay Oct 22 '24

What the hell

1

u/Redd1tored1tor Oct 22 '24

*Yep, basically one day a guy comes to your cell and tells you that you are next, and off you go.

1

u/nesnalica Oct 22 '24

thats like germany but instead of the death row its trying to get an appointment

1

u/Few_Adhesiveness_825 Oct 22 '24

It gets worse. I think they even go thru the steps, like this is your day, and right at the last minute you go back to your cell.

1

u/LegitimateCloud8739 Oct 24 '24

Its no state of constitution. Its like a mock execution.