Until now authorities had only revealed the number of executions, but withheld names and charges. Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama told a parliamentary committee that he had opted for more openness "to gain the understanding of the bereaved families of victims and the public over the appropriateness of executions," Kyodo news agency reported.
Seiha Fujima, 47, was hanged at the Tokyo Detention House for killing a 16-year-old girl in 1982 who refused to have sex with him, as well as murdering her 13-year-old sister, her mother, and two other people.
The oldest of the three men was Noboru Ikemoto, 75, executed in Osaka for three murders and one attempted murder in 1985.
Hiroki Fukawa, 42, was hanged in the capital for robbing and killing two women in 1999.
Amnesty International Japan said it welcomed the move to lift the secrecy surrounding capital punishment in the country, but condemned the executions: "The global trend towards abolishing capital punishment is spreading regardless of differences in political systems, religion and culture. We express deep concern that Japan keeps going against this trend."
According Kyodo, the number of executions this year is the highest since 1976. Capital punishment retains strong support in the country.
In November, the United Nations human rights committee approved a draft resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty, in a 99-52 vote with 33 abstentions. However, even if the 192-member General Assembly backs the document, it will remain non-binding. The previous two drafts on a death penalty moratorium reached the UN General in 1994 and 1999, but were rejected.
Japan and the United States are the only members of the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations that still carry out executions.
