The gallows, like much of the rest of Japan's prison system, are shrouded in thick veils of government secrecy.
Executions are timed to coincide with Diet [parliamentary] recesses to avoid protests from opposition lawmakers; prison guards are forbidden from discussing their work; and few ordinary civilians have ever set foot inside an execution chamber. The Justice Ministry never releases the names of those they kill, only how many on a certain day, with the media relying on tips and contacts with families to name those executed.
Media inquiries are swatted away. The ministry declined to answer most of the questions put to it for this article, including who pushes the execution button, the number of inmates on death row, or even how many people are present during a hanging.