Another pop execution in Japan where the usual modus operandi is to execute first and notify the media later. The next of kin for the executed is also notified AFTER the execution and asked to come and take care of the remains and any funeral rites involved.
Japan executed 15 in 2008, and has come out of the gates running with four.
Two of the executed were Tetsuya Sato and Yukinari Kawamura who robbed two elderly sisters and then burned them to death in steel drums in April of 2000. They then dismembered what was left of the bodies and buried the parts in various places in the mountains of Aichi Prefecture. They kidnapped, robbed, and killed the sisters after a dispute over money with the husband of one of the sisters.
Also executed was Shojiro Nishimoto who robbed a taxi driver and three senior citizens.
Tadashi Makino was executed after a 15 year and two month wait. He was convicted of assault, robbery, and murder while on parole after serving time (a life sentence) for robbery and murder.