Japan Executes Man for 2009 Gaming Parlour Fire

Japan has executed a man for a deadly gaming parlour fire, marking the first use of the death penalty in over a year.

Japan has executed a man who killed five people in a gaming parlour fire in 2009, making this the first time in more than a year that the country has enacted the death sentence.

Sunao Takami, 58, had doused the pachinko gaming parlour near his home in Osaka with gasoline and set it alight, killing four customers and one employee.

A six-member jury and a panel of three judges rejected the defence’s argument that Takami was mentally ill at the time of the crime, and sentenced him to hang in 2011.

Japan and the United States are the only G7 countries that still impose capital punishment, with death row prisoners in Japan typically being notified of their hanging just a few hours in advance.

Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi confirmed the execution was ordered “after careful and thorough consideration” and noted that this marks the first execution carried out under the Takaichi administration.

In June last year, Japan executed Takahiro Shiraishi, dubbed the “Twitter killer,” who murdered and dismembered nine people in 2017. Shiraishi’s killings were revealed in October 2017, when police discovered body parts in the Japanese city of Zama, near Tokyo, while searching for one of the victims.

Public surveys indicate strong support for the death penalty in Japan. However, rights groups have criticized authorities for the treatment of death-row inmates, particularly regarding prolonged solitary confinement and the lack of transparency surrounding execution dates.