Japan executes Osaka pachinko arson convict, reviving death penalty debate

Osaka,UPDATED: Aug 21, 2026 13:34 IST

Japan on Friday carried out its first execution under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government, hanging a man convicted of killing five people in an arson attack at a pachinko parlour in Osaka in 2009. The execution comes as the country faces growing calls for greater transparency and the abolition of capital punishment.

Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi said Sunao Takami, 58, set fire to the crowded parlour by spreading petrol and throwing a lit match, engulfing the building, killing five people and injuring 10 others. The Justice Ministry said the hanging took place earlier on Friday.

"It caused extremely serious outcomes and dealt a major shock and fear to society," Hiraguchi told a news conference. He added: "the victims whose lives were taken away must have felt unimaginable pain and fear, and those who suffered injuries ... were forced to live with long-term effects." He also said, "As justice minister, I have ordered an execution after careful and thorough considerations."

Takami was convicted of murder, attempted murder and arson and was sentenced to death in a 2011 ruling by the Osaka District Court. His appeals were rejected in 2016, when the Supreme Court upheld the death penalty. Hiraguchi said Japan now has 100 people on death row, including 43 seeking retrials.

Japan has faced increasing criticism over its use of the death penalty as most of the international community has abolished capital punishment. Japan and the United States are the only two countries in the Group of Seven that carry out executions. Calls to abolish capital punishment or improve transparency have grown since the 2024 acquittal of Iwao Hakamada, the world's longest-serving death-row inmate.

Executions in Japan are carried out in secrecy, and prisoners are not told of their fate until the morning of their hanging. Since 2007, Japan has begun disclosing the names of those executed and some details of their crimes, though disclosures remain limited. Hiraguchi said he has no intention of changing the practice, saying disclosure of additional details would disturb the mental state of death-row inmates. He also defended hanging as a valid method of execution, citing past Supreme Court decisions that said hanging is not considered more cruel than methods such as lethal injection, electrocution and shooting.

Hiraguchi said surveys show that the vast majority of Japanese people support the death penalty as an unavoidable option. He said whether to retain or abolish capital punishment is a crucial issue affecting the core of Japan's criminal justice system and requires careful consideration and broad public debate. Friday's hanging took place during a parliamentary recess, a move criticised as a tactic to avoid public debate, though Hiraguchi denied that was intentional.

Japan in 2025 executed a man known as the "Twitter killer", who was convicted of killing and dismembering nine people in his apartment near Tokyo in 2017. Friday's execution of Takami has again placed focus on Japan's use of capital punishment, its secrecy around executions and the continuing debate over whether the country should retain the death penalty.

With PTI Inputs

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