Japan executes man who killed five in Pachinko parlour fire

Japan has carried out its first execution in over a year, sentencing Sunao Takami, 58, to death for the 2009 pachinko parlour fire that killed five people. The man doused the Osaka venue with gasoline and set it ablaze, resulting in the deaths of four customers and one employee. Despite the defense arguing mental illness at the time of the crime, a six-member jury and a panel of three judges upheld the death sentence in 2011.

Japan and the United States are the only G7 nations that still employ capital punishment, with death row inmates typically informed of their execution a few hours before the event. Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi announced the execution after thorough consideration. This marks the first execution under the Takaichi administration.

Takahiro Shiraishi, known as the "Twitter killer," was executed in June 2022 for the 2017 murders and dismemberment of nine individuals. Shiraishi's crimes were discovered in October 2017 during a search for one of the victims' remains in Zama, near Tokyo. Public opinion in Japan generally supports the death penalty, although rights groups have criticized the solitary confinement of death-row inmates and lack of transparency regarding execution timings.