Around 180 people gathered at a Tokyo church on Saturday for a charity concert to raise money for poor children around the world — the last wish of a hanged killer.
The concert was organized by a group of supporters for Norio Nagayama, who was 19 when he went on a shooting spree that killed four people in 1968. He was executed on Aug. 1, 1997, after writing several literary works behind bars based mainly on his underprivileged background.
The Nagayama Children Fund has held the event every year since 2004 around the anniversary of Nagayama's execution, and marked the 10th round this year. It was Nagayama's wish that royalties from his publications help disadvantaged children lead independent lives instead of following his path to criminality.