Norio Nagayama Sent New Year’s Cards to Iwao Hakamada Saying, “Everyone Is for the Death Row Inmate”

”Be a revolutionary with yourself.”

Nagayama, the former death row inmate, sent New Year’s cards to Hakamada every year while Hakamada was imprisoned. After Hakamada was released in 2014, the actual cards were found in a cardboard box sent from the Tokyo Detention Center to his home in Hamamatsu. The cards are from 1983, 1986, and 1988, and each contains a short message. However, the messages are difficult to understand due to their complex wording. A sociologist familiar with Nagayama offers an interpretation:

“It seems like he is inviting Hakamada to join him as a revolutionary. ‘I committed a crime, but as a criminal, I have uncovered truths about society. Let’s fight together.’ This is the nuance behind the message.”

Nagayama, who was one of Hakamada’s few contacts while in prison, had his death sentence finalized in 1990 and was executed in 1997 at the Tokyo Detention Center. According to a former inmate who was on the same floor, Nagayama resisted violently when he was escorted from his cell to the execution chamber.

Given that Hakamada has been isolated from society for most of his life, we can only hope that he will now be able to live out the remaining years of his life peacefully.