Japan Executes Man Convicted of Killing Five People
Japan has carried out its first execution since June 2025, putting 58-year-old Sunao Takami to death for an attack that killed five people and injured at least 10 others.
Takami was convicted of pouring gasoline across the floor of a pachinko parlour and setting it alight on July 5, 2009. His death sentence was finalized in 2016, and Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi said the decision to carry out the execution was made after “careful consideration.”
The execution comes amid continued debate over Japan’s use of the death penalty. In 2024, the country also made international headlines when a court exonerated Iwao Hakamata after he had spent more than four decades on death row.
