Yes, with qualifiers. Although the Japanese did have officers carry swords during WWII, and issue them to NCOs the majority of the swords in theater were shin guntō (新軍刀) or the New Military sword. These were produced starting in the mid 1930s and replaced the kyu gunto or 'old' military sword design. Compared to the previous style of swords, which borrowed heavily from late 19th century European military swords and sabres, (especially in their hilt construction) the shin gunto did return to the general form and function of the uchigatana and tachi which had been used as historical swords of war from the time of the Samurai, sporting longer grips to accommodate two hands, and a disc guard instead of Western style hand protection.

However unlike the typical 'samurai sword' which is made of tamahagane steel and differentially hardened during heat treatment to make the famous hamon pattern along the blade, the majority of these shin gunto were mass produced from modern factory steel, resulting in varying quality swords from completely adequate to not particularly durable.

A small minority of swords were fitted with ancestral blades, and had actual hundreds of years old samurai blades fitted into the modern dress code, in some cases requiring shortening in order to be put into the new fittings.

So with those points clarified, there are accounts of these swords being used not only for executions as you mention, but also in (desperate) combat, usually against the Chinese.

An account from Captain Hisao Koizumi:

昭和7年1月28日～5月；上海での支那人による日本人僧侶

　 　　 殺傷事件を発端とした日・支両軍の軍事衝突事件

　左写真は、正装して長剣を握る小泉久雄海軍大佐

上海事変は、支那軍閥私軍である第十九路軍 33,000人と、邦人租界を守る帝国海軍上海特別陸戦隊 1,800人との局地市街戦である。

彼我の18倍に及ぶ兵力差はあまりに大きかった(途中から日支両軍は増援するが兵力比は依然と大きかった)。

上海事変は嘗(かっ)て海軍が経験した事のない熾烈な市街戦であり、圧倒的多数の敵に陸戦隊は窮地に追い込まれた(死傷率は日露戦争

の遼陽会戦に匹敵)。士官と雖も、軍刀と拳銃を持って、下士官・兵と共に必死に戦わざるを得ない過酷な戦況であった。

Machine Translated here:

* January 28th to May 1932: A military clash between Japanese and Chinese forces triggered by the murder of a Japanese monk by a Chinese in Shanghai.

The Shanghai Incident was a localized urban battle between 33,000 troops of the 19th Route Army, a private army of the Chinese warlords, and 1,800 troops of the Imperial Navy's Shanghai Special Land Battle Group, which was defending a Japanese concession. The difference in troop strength between the two armies was 18 times too great (the Japanese and Chinese forces were reinforced during the battle, but the troop ratio was still too great). The Shanghai Incident was the fiercest urban battle the Navy had ever experienced, and the overwhelming numbers of enemy forces put the land forces in a tight corner (casualty rates were comparable to the Russo-Japanese War's Liaoyang Battle).Even officers were forced to fight desperately together with their enlisted men and women, carrying swords and pistols.

After the incident he documented 24 'sword actions' (some of which included up to 8+ kills for a single sword)' and notes 7 blades did not suffer any damage after the event (this was across approximately 45 days of battle.

References:

「日本刀の近代的研究」と, 　小泉久雄海軍大佐は、 1933