Two death row inmates were hanged Friday morning, according to the Justice Ministry, bringing to 16 the number of executions carried out under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration since taking power in 2012.
The two prisoners were Yasutoshi Kamata, 75, and Junko Yoshida, 56. Yoshida is only the fifth woman to face the gallows according to ministry records that date back to 1950, and the first hanged since 2012.
Kamata was sentenced to death in 2005 for killing five females in Osaka between 1985 and 1994, including a 9-year-old girl. Kamata abducted the girl to molest her, and eventually strangled her to death. He was also found guilty of kidnapping, having demanded a ransom from the girl's father.