<figure id="attachment_230070" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 3000px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-230070"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="9b8436a0"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2022/02/aflo_15702893.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-230070" class="wp-caption-text">Seized illegal drugs. The number of Japanese suspects is on the rise (Image: Reuters/Afro)</figcaption></figure>
 Do you know how Japanese nationals arrested in China for smuggling or possession of illegal drugs are being executed?
 According to Chinese law, methamphetamine 50 According to Chinese law, smuggling or trafficking 50 grams or more of methamphetamine is punishable by death regardless of nationality. Unlike in Japan, it takes several years from arrest to execution.
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 A generation ago, executions in China were carried out by gun. Nowadays, executions are mainly carried out by medicinal poisoning.
 The process is quite simple. In China, there is a van called an execution van. The van is fully equipped with an execution bed, poison, equipment for preserving the body, and monitoring devices. This van travels from place to place to execute the condemned.
 First of all, the condemned person is laid on a bed in the car and secured with a belt. A needle is inserted into a blood vessel and an anesthetic is administered. After the condemned person loses consciousness, a lethal dose of poison is injected.
 According to local reports, the body begins to convulse a few dozen seconds after the poison is injected. Then, it takes several minutes for the body to die.
 It is said that the Japanese who have been executed in China have gone through the same process (not in an execution car, but in a facility). Although they were allowed to meet with family members from Japan, they were drugged to death by injection, the same as the locals.
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 The details of executions of foreigners in China are kept secret, and there is no information leaking out.
 In the U.S., which also allows the use of drugs for executions, there is a shortage of the drugs used in the executions, and there is a shortage of the drugs used in the executions. 40 minutes after the execution. In the U.S., where the practice is also allowed, there have been news reports of shortages of drugs used in executions, or of prisoners on death row suffering because they did not die even after 40 minutes of execution.
 Considering that there are currently several thousand executions a year in China, far more than in the U.S., it is possible that there are various problems occurring at the execution sites.
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<h2>Japanese executed in China: &#8230;&#8230;</h2>
 So what kind of people are these Japanese who are being executed in China?
 There are several areas in China that are known as methamphetamine producing areas, such as Dalian. It is smuggled by Chinese illegal drug syndicates.
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 In some cases, these syndicates smuggle the drugs into Japan, but in this case, the Chinese become the couriers. In some cases, these syndicates smuggle the drugs into Japan, but in these cases, Chinese people act as couriers, while Japanese people act as couriers in cases where Japanese gangsters or similar traffickers act as couriers. They go to China to buy methamphetamine and then transport it to the Japanese for smuggling.
 A member of a designated crime syndicate who has been arrested for drug smuggling said, &#8220;My parents are Taiwanese.
 My parents are Taiwanese, and I was born and raised in Taipei. I came to Japan at the age of 13. My parents are Taiwanese and I was born and raised in Taipei. I came to Japan at the age of 13 and later became a yakuza, but because I was born that way, I could speak Chinese. At first, I was selling drugs brought by a Chinese broker in Japan, but the Chinese broker was arrested. So I went to China and started buying drugs directly from them and bringing them to Japan. I could speak the language, so they trusted me right away.
 In his case, he asked a Chinese shipping company to smuggle the methamphetamine he bought there to Japan. He would wait in Japan, and when the ship arrived safely at the port, he would rush there to pick them up. Five kilos at a time. 15 It is said that they traded in units of 5 to 15 kilograms at a time. Incidentally, the terminal value of these products ranged from several hundred million yen to over a billion yen. The funds are borrowed from a network of gangsters.
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 He continued.
 I&#8217;ve never smuggled anything myself because of the high risk of being arrested. But the fees for smuggling are so high that some people who are willing to take the risk and make money, or who smuggle small quantities of one or two kilos, may carry it themselves.
 However, most people know that if they are caught in China, they will be out in one hit (death penalty), so they don&#8217;t want to carry it directly. So, I stand on the side of control and let the couriers do it. The courier will be brought in from Japan.
 For example, 20 For example, in 20 10 For example, in 2010, four Japanese nationals caught on methamphetamine related charges in China were executed for drug-related crimes. The Japanese who were executed at that time were exactly this kind of group.
 One of the group was the man who was considered the main suspect. He was close to the gang and had been involved in a number of incidents in Japan. After he became involved in illegal drug smuggling, he would ambush homeless people living on the streets and unemployed people who seemed to be having trouble making ends meet, asking them if they would be willing to become couriers.
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 A man who was also executed at the time was a courier by this very method. He had a lot of debt and had been homeless in a cardboard house for a while. This is how he was approached.
 He was offered this job: &#8220;Would you like to work as a product transporter from China to Japan? I&#8217;ll pay you well. 20 ～20~30 20 to 300 If you are arrested in China, you will be out in a year. Even if you are arrested in China, you can rest assured that you will be out in a year.
 In exchange for the death penalty. The price for the death penalty is 20 ～For the death penalty. The price for the death penalty is 200,000-300,000 yen. (Incidentally, this is also the amount of money that is paid to the recipients of special scams).
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 Also, in Japan, if you are caught for possession of methamphetamine on your first offense, you may be given a suspended sentence instead of jail time. If you are ignorant of Chinese law, you will probably be deceived by the words &#8220;even if you are caught in China, you can get out in a year&#8221; based on such considerations.
 As a result, this man was1.2 As a result, this man concealed 2 grams of methamphetamine in his belt and tried to board a flight from China to Japan. However, he was arrested at customs and after a trial, he was sentenced to death. The trial revealed that he was a used courier, but there were no extenuating circumstances, and he was executed.
 After the four men were executed in rapid succession, China&#8217;s 14 After the four men were executed in quick succession, China saw a series of executions in 14 and 15 years. 15 After the four people were executed in quick succession, China has seen the death penalty in 14, 15, and 16 One by one, Japanese nationals were executed in China in 2002, 2003, and 2004. All were on charges related to methamphetamine smuggling, and were executed by lethal injection after the Japanese embassy was notified and, in some cases, allowed a final visit with their families.
 Of these 16 The death penalty was carried out in 2004. A man in his 40s A man in his 40s, who was executed in 2004, made the following statement shortly before his execution.
 I was cheated. I was invited to a hotel by an acquaintance, and an unknown Chinese person gave me a suitcase. I didn&#8217;t know what was in it. When I took it to the airport, they found four kilograms of methamphetamine in it and arrested me.
 He said that he knew nothing about it and that he had been deceived. He said he did not know anything about it and was deceived, but this did not bring about any extenuating circumstances, and he was executed.
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<h2>Confessions of a Former City Council Member</h2>
 This A Japanese man in his 40s I don&#8217;t know if this Japanese man in his 40s was telling the truth or not. It could be that he lied to avoid the death penalty, or it could be that he insisted on the truth until the end.
 There are other Japanese arrested in China who have made similar claims. One example is Takuma Sakuragi, a former city councilor of Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture.
 Sakuragi was 13 When returning to Japan from China in 2001, Sakuragi was found with3.3 Sakuragi was returning to Japan from China in 2001 when three kilograms of methamphetamine were found in his suitcase. At the trial, Sakuragi claimed as follows.
 In the trial, Sakuragi claimed: &#8220;I was just asked by a Malian national to carry a package containing a sample of his product. I didn&#8217;t know that it contained methamphetamine.&#8221;
 Fortunately or unfortunately, Sakuragi was in court. Fortunately or unfortunately, Sakuragi was 75 years old at the time of the trial. Fortunately or unfortunately, Sakuragi was 75 years old at the time of the trial. In China 75 years old. In China, there is an agreement that in principle the death penalty is not applied to people over the age of 75, so instead of a death sentence, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
 As for Sakurai&#8217;s case, there is no way to prove whether or not he really did not know what was inside. In any case, the important thing to remember is that no matter what the claim of the person arrested, in China 50 In any case, the important thing to remember is that no matter what the arrested person claims, smuggling more than 50 grams is likely to be punishable by execution in China.
 I frequently travel abroad for news gathering, and I have been approached by strangers at foreign airports and asked, &#8220;Can you take my suitcase?
 I have often been approached by strangers at foreign airports and asked if I could take their suitcases. I have also experienced this at Narita International Airport in Japan.
 Recently, there has been an increase in the number of cases in which people make friends through the Internet and then ask for their luggage to be taken out of the country. The Japanese are not very good at saying no. Japanese people are not very good at saying no, and many of them may be taken advantage of.
 Really bad criminals try to deceive ordinary people and use them as pawns without getting their hands dirty. That is their usual method.
 Unfortunately, the only thing that can protect us from these crimes is our own awareness. Once you are arrested, you are likely to be sentenced to death, no matter what you say or do.
 I have interviewed a Japanese woman in prison several times, a former nurse who was sentenced to death in Malaysia. On one occasion, I went to the prison with her mother and met her through an acrylic panel.
I will leave it to my book, &#8220;Megumi on Death Row,&#8221; which is based on the case, to explain why she was sentenced to death, but I will never forget her crying and telling her mother, &#8220;I&#8217;m sorry.
I&#8217;m sorry. I can&#8217;t say anything. &#8230;&#8230; I&#8217;m so sorry. &#8220;
During the visit, all she could say was, &#8220;I&#8217;m sorry. I guess he had no choice but to cry and apologize in front of the heavy sentence of death penalty.
We should think carefully about the issue of the death penalty for Japanese people overseas to see how short-sighted behavior can cause such a situation.

 Born in Tokyo in 1977. Nonfiction writer. Graduated from Nihon University College of Art. He is active in reporting and writing about culture, history, and medicine in Japan and abroad. His books include "The House of the 'Demons': Parents Who Kill Their Own Children," "Forty-three Killing Intentions: The Depths of the Kawasaki Jr. 1 Boys' Murder Case," "Rental Child," "Kinship Murder," and "Social Map of Disparity and Division.

 Kota Ishii

 Reuters/Afro

 Many Japanese are caught by the Chinese authorities for drug smuggling. Most of them are executed. The majority of them are sentenced to death. In addition, they are put in poisonous substances in their bodies. ...... What is behind Japanese people's involvement in drug smuggling? Nonfiction writer Kota Ishii takes a closer look.

200,000 Yen Reward for Death Penalty… Japanese Drug Smugglers in China: Shocking Truth Behind Their Crime

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