Japan executes man who killed five in Pachinko parlour fire

This is the first time since June 2025 that the country has enacted capital punishment.

Japan executes man behind pachinko parlour arson that killed 5

Japan executed on Friday a man convicted of an arson attack on a pachinko parlour in 2009 that killed five people, authorities said. 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 executed on Friday, doused a pachinko parlour – a popular game mixing pinball and a slot machine using small steel balls – near his home in Osaka with petrol and set it on fire, killing four...

By Agence France-Presse

Japan executes man for pinball parlour arson attack that killed five people in 2009

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

By AFP

Japan executes man convicted of killing five in 2009 Osaka pachinko parlor arson

The execution — the first under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's administration — took place on Friday morning, according to media reports.