A man who had been sentenced to death for setting fire to a gaming hall in 2009, killing five people, was executed on Friday morning, according to Japanese media reports.
This is the first execution of a death row inmate this year and also the first since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office in October 2025.
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The previous execution, that of Takahiro Shiraishi, the “Twitter killer,” who murdered and dismembered nine people, took place in June 2025.
Sunao Takami, who was executed today, had thrown flammable liquid into a pachinko parlor —a game similar to billiards but played vertically, with metal balls— in Osaka, near his home, before setting it on fire, resulting in the deaths of four customers and an employee.
The Ministry of Justice declined to comment on reports that Sunao Takami had been executed.
Japan and the U.S. are the only G7 countries that still impose the death penalty. Despite criticism, particularly regarding the slowness of the proceedings and the conditions of the executions, the authorities do not appear to have the slightest intention of considering its abolition; the majority of the Japanese public remains in favor of it.
Prior to last year’s execution, the most recent one had taken place in July 2022, when Tomohiro Kato was hanged; he had been sentenced to death for killing seven people in Tokyo in 2008, by driving a truck into a crowd and then stabbing passersby.
There were three executions in 2021, the same number in 2019, and 15 in 2018, the Ministry of Justice told Agence France-Presse last year.
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Source: KYPE
