Remembering back to a couple of months ago, we posted about three executions taking place in Japan, in just one week. 

Well, here’s how fast things can change:  Japan has effectively nixed capital punishment today.  How?  By the appointment of Keiko Chiba as the country’s new Justice Minister.  A lifelong opponent of the death penalty, it’s highly unlikely that Minister Chiba will sign the necessary execution order for any Japanese inmate to be executed in Japan. 

No signed order, no hanging.