Lawyers based in Osaka made a DVD to explain to local people the reality of hangings in Japan, and how the death penalty is enforced in the country, local press reported on Friday.

This is the first such media product in Japan and it is intended to accelerate the lawyers' efforts to broadly disseminate information about the "cruel punishment," which is an act the country's constitution prohibits.

A dedicated team from the Osaka Bar Association completed the 25-minute video to widely inform people that the supposedly common Japanese idea of hanging as the most merciful form of execution is wrong and to give them ample information on the scientific aspects of the conventional Japanese method of execution, according to the daily Mainichi Shimbun.

The report said the DVD, supervised by Austrian specialists in forensic medicine, consists of seven chapters, including "the Japanese history of the death penalty" and "the actual execution method in Japan," explaining in detail the five main conditions, such as airway obstruction and detachment of the head, which are commonly recognized after an execution. The video also notes how the condemned may remain conscious for a couple of minutes after a Japanese execution.

Takeshi Kaneko, spokesperson for the association also told Xinhua that since more people in Japan will have to participate in the lay judge system, they should learn, through the new video, about the brutality of this form of punishment, of which little has been publicly disclosed in the past.