Japan Executes Male Inmate for 2009 Arson That Killed 5

Tokyo, Aug. 21 (Jiji Press)--Japan's Justice Ministry said Friday that it executed the same day 58-year-old male death-row inmate Sunao Takami, convicted of murdering five people by setting fire to a "pachinko" pinball parlor in the western Japan city of Osaka in 2009.

This is the first death penalty conducted in the country in 14 months since June 2025, when male inmate Takahiro Shiraishi, then 34, was executed for killing nine people, and the first under the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who took office last October.

Takami was executed at the Osaka Detention House 17 years after the crime.

"The crime was extremely serious and brought enormous shock and terror to society," Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi said at a press conference. "I ordered the execution after a very careful consideration," he added. The minister signed the execution order Tuesday.

The total number of death-row inmates in Japan now stands at 100, according to the ministry.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]