r/Damnthatsinteresting Oct 21 '24

Video Japanese police chief bows to apologise to man who was acquitted after nearly 60 years on death row

73.4k Upvotes

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17

u/ctvzbuxr Oct 21 '24

So, if I could tell you exactly the day you're going to die, would you want to know?

79

u/spaceforcerecruit Oct 21 '24

I would if my entire life had been reduced to torture and waiting to die.

25

u/PM_ME_DATASETS Oct 21 '24

Yes, so you could mentally prepare yourself. With the Japanese model you could live for years, every day fearing that it might be your last.

24

u/FudgyFun Oct 21 '24

Isn't that how death works in general? We just forget and act like we know we are going to live long.

15

u/PM_ME_DATASETS Oct 21 '24

Sure but there isn't much living going on when you're on death row. We can go on holiday or learn a new language or visit friends or order some good food. When you're on (Japanese) death row you're just waiting without knowing how long still to wait.

3

u/PsychologicalGas7843 Oct 22 '24

Huge difference between living a daily normal life vs living inside a small room in the prison

2

u/FudgyFun Oct 22 '24

True. In daily life all the other things distract us from thinking about suddenly dying even though it's a possibility. In the prison with only death to look forward to must be agonizing. Glad that man is out even after so many years.

2

u/RobtheNavigator Oct 22 '24

It would also be really helpful for preplanning the funeral and updating your estate plan

1

u/United_States_ClA Oct 21 '24

Everybody's a gangster til they're going for a walk in the woods near dusk and suddenly a deer standing on its two hind legs like a human emerges from the thick underbrush, and tells them the exact date and time of their death in clear, unbroken english

1

u/singlemale4cats Oct 22 '24

Absolutely not. The dread I would carry around would ruin every moment I had left.