Toshio Ogawa is the first justice minister to tacitly support capital punishment since the Democratic Party of Japan came to power in September 2009 and has no intention of engaging in the debate over whether to end the death penalty.
He said the study group weighing the possibility of abolishing capital punishment has run out of things to discuss.
"Whether or not the death sentence should be kept had been discussed in depth before the study group was set up (in September 2010 by then Justice Minister Keiko Chiba).