For death-row inmates in Japan, contact with the outside world through visits and the exchange of letters makes life worth living, if only for another day, as they reflect on their crimes or pursue the possibility of retrials.
As one might expect, a questionnaire survey found the biggest pleasure for inmates awaiting execution is contact with family and friends. It also revealed that nearly 80 percent of the respondents were either appealing for retrials or planning to do so.
The nationwide survey conducted by an anti-death penalty group called Forum 90 and Mizuho Fukushima, a House of Councilors member of the Social Democratic Party, found that issues such as the treatment of certain medical conditions, and the obvious fear of facing a literal gallows, weighed heavily on their minds.