Crime Japan hangs pachinko arsonist in first execution under Takaichi

Yesterday, Japan executed 58-year-old death row inmate Sunao Takami for setting fire to a pachinko parlour in Osaka in 2009, killing five people and injuring 10. It was the first execution carried out under the Takaichi administration.


The Justice Ministry said Takami had been convicted of murder, arson and other offences over the attack. He poured gasoline inside the pachinko parlour and set it alight, killing five customers and employees. Another 10 people suffered serious or minor injuries. The Osaka District Court sentenced him to death in 2011. Takami continued to appeal, but the Supreme Court rejected his final appeal in 2016, making the sentence final.

The execution was Japan's first in about one year and two months, following the execution of former death row inmate Takahiro Shiraishi, who was 34 at the time and had been convicted of killing nine men and women in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture. It was also the first execution carried out under the Takaichi administration. Following Takami's execution, the number of inmates in Japan with finalized death sentences fell to 100.

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