Japan Executes Man for Deadly 2009 Pachinko Fire

Japan has executed a man convicted of killing five people in a fire at a pachinko gaming parlour near his home in Osaka in 2009, the first execution in more than a year in the country.

Sunao Takami, 58, was put to death after the case was upheld by courts that rejected arguments from his defence that he was mentally ill at the time of the attack. He was sentenced to be hanged in 2011.

Pachinko Fire Case

Prosecutors said Takami poured gasoline over the pachinko parlour and set it alight. The fire killed four customers and one employee.

The execution was carried out on Friday, according to Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi, who said the decision had been reached following careful and thorough consideration.

It was also the first execution carried out under the Takaichi administration.

Court Decision and Sentence

A six-member jury and a panel of three judges rejected the defence’s request for leniency based on Takami’s mental state during the crime. The court decision led to a death sentence, which was handed down in 2011.

The process of sentencing and appeals in Japan allows for juries in some criminal trials. In this case, the jury and judges agreed on the outcome after hearing the defence arguments.

Death Penalty Rules and International Context

Japan and the United States are the only Group of Seven (G7) countries that still impose capital punishment. In Japan, people on death row are typically informed of the date of their execution only a few hours in advance.

Rights groups have repeatedly criticised aspects of the system. They have pointed to long periods of solitary confinement for death-row inmates and to limited transparency around when executions are carried out.

Surveys have suggested there is broad public support for the death penalty in Japan, although the practice remains controversial internationally.

Recent Executions Under Review

In June last year, Japan executed Takahiro Shiraishi, widely dubbed the “Twitter killer”, after he murdered and dismembered nine people in 2017. Shiraishi’s killings came to light in October 2017, when police in the city of Zama, near Tokyo, found body parts while searching for one of the victims.

Friday’s execution of Takami was the first carried out in more than a year, following the earlier case involving Shiraishi.

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22 August 2026

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