Japan Hangs Man Convicted of Deadly 2009 Pachinko Parlor Fire

Japan carried out the death sentence of Sunao Takami on Friday, nearly 17 years after he set fire to a crowded pachinko parlor in Osaka, killing five people and injuring ten others. The 58-year-old was hanged, marking the first execution under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government.

Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi confirmed the execution at a press conference, detailing how Takami spread gasoline on the floor of the parlor, which was packed with holiday customers, and then threw a lit match. The building was completely destroyed, and five people, including customers and employees, died from burns. Ten others suffered injuries, some severe, that were not fatal.

Takami was convicted of arson of an inhabited building, murder, and attempted murder. The Osaka District Court handed down the death sentence in 2011, and the Supreme Court upheld it in 2016 after his appeals were rejected.

Hiraguchi expressed the profound suffering of the victims and their families, saying their pain and grief were "beyond measure." He also noted that Japan currently holds 100 inmates on death row, 43 of whom are seeking retrials.

The execution comes amid growing domestic and international criticism of Japan's capital punishment system, which remains one of only two in the Group of Seven, alongside the United States, to retain the death penalty. Calls for greater transparency and abolition have intensified since the 2024 acquittal of Iwao Hakamada, the world's longest-serving death row inmate.

Executions in Japan are conducted in secrecy, with inmates informed only on the morning of their hanging. While the government has disclosed names and some crime details since 2007, information remains limited. The last execution before Friday was in June 2025, when a man known as the "Twitter killer" was hanged for murdering and dismembering nine people.