Japan executes man over killing 5 people

Japan hanged Sunao Takami on Friday for a 2009 arson attack at an Osaka pachinko parlor that left five people dead and ten injured. Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi announced the execution during a news conference, marking the first capital punishment carried out under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's administration.

Takami, 58, received a death sentence in 2011 from the Osaka District Court after a conviction for murder, attempted murder, and arson. The Supreme Court rejected subsequent appeals in 2016.

Japan currently houses 100 inmates on death row, with 43 actively seeking retrials. International scrutiny persists as Japan and the United States remain the sole G7 industrialized nations retaining capital punishment. Transparency and abolition debates intensified following the 2024 exoneration of Iwao Hakamada, who spent decades on death row before his acquittal.

Executions in Japan remain shrouded in secrecy, with inmates receiving notification only on the morning of their hanging. Hiraguchi defended the practice of withholding detailed disclosures, asserting that additional information could disturb the psychological state of death-row prisoners. He also supported hanging as a valid method, noting past Supreme Court rulings affirming it is no crueler than alternative methods.

Surveys indicate broad domestic support for the death penalty, though abolition sentiment grew slightly to 17% in a 2024 government poll. Friday's execution occurred during a parliamentary recess, drawing criticism from critics who alleged an intent to bypass public debate, a claim Hiraguchi denied.

-CBS News