Japan executes pachinko parlour arsonist: media
Japan executed 58-year-old Sunao Takami on Friday for a 2009 arson attack on an Osaka pachinko parlor that killed five people and injured ten others, according to reports from The Japan Times and The Straits Times. The hanging marks the country's first execution since June 2025.
- World
- AFP
- Published Date: 05:45 AM 21 August 2026
It was Japan's first hanging since Takahiro Shiraishi, the "Twitter killer" who murdered and dismembered nine people, was put to death in June 2025.
Sunao Takami, the man reportedly executed on Friday, doused a pachinko parlour in Osaka near his home with gasoline and set it on fire, killing four customers and one employee.
The justice ministry declined to comment.
Japan and the United States are the only two G7 countries to still use capital punishment, and surveys suggest there is strong support among the Japanese public.
However, there is widespread criticism of the system, with death row inmates typically only informed on the morning of their last day that they are about to be hanged.
There was one execution in 2022, three in 2021, three in 2019 and 15 in 2018, the justice ministry told AFP last year.