Former Tokyo Jail Hairdresser Reveals the Human Faces of Death Row Inmates as Only I Could See Them

The book is titled “Barber of Death Row Inmates” and is published by Saizusha. I couldn’t sleep well the night before, thinking about what would happen if they took away my scissors and attacked me.

Mr. Gari served at the Tokyo Detention Center from 19 to 21, where he was in charge of barbering. After being incarcerated for theft and other crimes, he was selected as one of the few barbers because he had a national license as a hairdresser. In prison, they called him “Gari” for “trimming” his head, and this nickname stuck.

At the end of May, he published a book about his experiences, “Shikenjin no Barber” (The Barber of Death Row Prisoners) (Saizusha Publishing Co., Ltd.). He looks back on those special days.

The first death row inmate I was assigned to was Tomohiro Kato, who was involved in the Akihabara street ripper case. Before the haircut, I had heard that he could become agitated over the slightest thing, but when I met him, he was very quiet, with a hunched back and a downcast look on his face.
I will never forget the first time I clipped his hair. I put the blade in from the right side of my forehead, and a nasty perspiration started to form still from all over my body. During the haircut, I was looking at Kato through the mirror, and he was staring at me for the entire five minutes or so of the cut, not moving an inch. I felt an unbearable fear, and I couldn’t stop sweating.

Mr. Gari was in charge of Kato’s haircut a total of 10 times during the two years before his release from prison. The fear remained until the end, but gradually faded with each visit. At the same time, I began to notice a change.

Around the summer of ’21, alopecia areata became noticeable on his head. He seemed to be scratching his scalp, and the number of bleeding areas also increased. At the time, Kato was said to be close to execution, so I think the stress must have affected him. It was the moment when I felt that even Kato, who had given me the impression of being somewhat inhuman, was afraid of death.

In the fall of 2009, a few months before Mr. Gari’s release from prison, I was in charge of him, and we exchanged some words. Private conversations with the barber not related to haircutting are prohibited, but on this occasion, the prison guard present did not stop him, he said.

The prison guard present at the time did not stop him. He asked me, ‘Um, is your hair thinning? I think he wanted to ask me about my condition while I was there. To avoid shocking him, I replied, ‘No change,’ and he just said, ‘I see. It was a short exchange, but I thought he trusted me a little.

There were other moments when Kato’s human side came through.

Once, I damaged the back of Kato’s ear with clippers, causing it to bleed. I was chilled to the bone because a mistake in work is an act that can lead to punishment. …… Kato was aware of it, but he didn’t complain. Inmates are under a lot of stress, and most of them don’t tolerate these kinds of mistakes. I had heard that Kato was out of control when he was turned on, but for some reason he let me off the hook. In hindsight, it may have been his way of showing kindness.

Kato was executed in July 2010. Gari, who had already been released from prison at the time, said that when he saw the news, this event was the first thing that came to mind.