Straw sandals to stop death penalty

Tairyu Furukawa, a Buddhist monk, vowed never to take off his straw sandals until he’d walked to the ends of the earth to bring an end to the death penalty in Japan.
While a former prison chaplain, his encounter with two men he discovered were innocent on death row was to change his life and his mission forever.

"I have worn straw sandals for ten years to help innocent prisoners.
I keep walking through towns and villages shouting out about
their innocence, appealing to each and every person.

There are as many as one hundred million people in Japan
how is it that innocent prisoners can be kept isolated ?
One day, maybe some twenty or thirty years from now,
everybody will know and help release them.
I believe this will happen and walk and walk,
today and tomorrow, till my last day.

A world that cannot save even the life of one man
- this I cannot believe !
A world that does not execute any innocent prisoners -
This I wish to believe and show to be true !
For, otherwise, I myself must remain unsaved and unable to live.
I cannot take off my straw sandals."

Furukawa was never to see an end to the death penalty in his beloved country - but he wore those straw sandals up until the day he died. During his lifetime he forged lasting friendships with Catholic lay and religious who shared his concern for justice and peace. Together, they established a center for interfaith dialogue to encourage understanding between peoples...

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