Japan Hangs Sunao Takami, 58, for 2009 Osaka Arson That Killed 5
Updated
Updated · The Associated Press · Aug 21
Japan Hangs Sunao Takami, 58, for 2009 Osaka Arson That Killed 5
3 articles · Updated · The Associated Press · Aug 21
Summary
Friday’s hanging made Sunao Takami the first inmate executed under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government for the 2009 Osaka pachinko parlor arson that killed five people and injured 10.
Gasoline and a lit match set the crowded building ablaze; Takami was sentenced to death in 2011, and Japan’s Supreme Court upheld that penalty in 2016.
100 inmates remain on Japan’s death row, including 43 seeking retrials, as Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi rejected calls to expand disclosure around executions and defended hanging as lawful.
Criticism has intensified since Iwao Hakamada’s 2024 acquittal, with opponents also attacking the timing of Friday’s execution during a parliamentary recess as limiting public debate.
Japan and the United States remain the only G7 countries that carry out executions, even as most of the international community has abolished capital punishment.