The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and four railway companies jointly hold a drill at JR Shibuya Station in Tokyo, Japan on November 30, 2021, on the assumption of a random attack by a knife-wielding man following a recent knife and arson attack on a train.?Photo: VCG

Japan hanged three prisoners on Tuesday, its first executions in two years, with the government saying it was necessary to maintain capital punishment in the face of continued "atrocious crimes."

Japan is one of the few developed countries to keep the death penalty and public support for capital punishment remains high despite international criticism, especially from rights groups.

More than 100 people are currently on death row, most of them for cases of mass murder. Executions are carried out by hanging, usually long after sentencing.

One of the three executed on Tuesday was Yasutaka Fujishiro, 65, who used a hammer and knife to kill his 80-year-old aunt, two cousins and four others in 2004, a justice ministry spokeswoman told AFP.

The other two were 54-year-old Tomoaki Takanezawa, who killed two clerks at an arcade game parlor in 2003, and his accomplice Mitsunori Onogawa, 44.

The executions were the first under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

"Whether to keep the death sentence or not is an important issue that concerns the foundation of Japan's criminal justice system," deputy chief cabinet secretary Seiji Kihara said.

"Given that atrocious crimes keep occurring one after another, it is necessary to execute those whose guilt is extremely grave, so it is inappropriate to abolish capital punishment."

The country is reeling after a fire gutted a mental health clinic in the city of Osaka on Friday, with the death toll climbing to 25 as another woman succumbed to her injuries.

Investigators have made the unusual move of naming the arson suspect although they have not yet announced a criminal investigation.

AFP