Takahiro Shiraishi, a death-row inmate convicted of killing nine people he met on social media, was executed Friday ¡ª the first use of capital punishment in Japan in nearly three years.
Shiraishi, nicknamed the ¡°Twitter killer,¡± was sentenced to death in 2020 by the Tokyo District Court¡¯s Tachikawa branch for killing eight women and one man over the span of two months in 2017.
The then-27-year-old had contacted his victims on Twitter, now X, and lured them to his apartment in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, where he strangled them to death.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki said Friday that he authorized the hanging after ¡°extremely careful consideration,¡± taking into account the ¡°selfish reasons¡± that motivated Shiraishi¡¯s actions.
The murders came to light after nine bodies were found in cooler boxes at Shiraishi¡¯s apartment in October 2017. He later said he had connected with suicidal individuals on Twitter and lured them to his home with the promise that he would help them die.
Shiraishi¡¯s hanging was carried out four and a half years after the finalization of his sentence ¡ª shorter than the average execution wait time of nine years and six months over the past decade.
This was the first use of capital punishment in Japan in two years and 11 months ¡ª the longest the country had gone without an execution since the Justice Ministry began making the information public in 2007.
It followed the July 2022 execution of Tomohiro Kato, who went on a stabbing spree in Akihabara, Tokyo, in 2008.
Debate around the death penalty received major public attention following Iwao Hakamata¡¯s case, which saw the world¡¯s longest-serving death-row prisoner acquitted through retrial in 2024.
The United Nations Human Rights Council raised concerns over Japan¡¯s death penalty system in a 2024 report, citing inadequate legal counsel for death-row inmates and the practice of notifying inmates of their execution only on the day it takes place.
But in Japan, around 83% of people support the death penalty, with 16.5% against, according to a poll conducted by the Cabinet Office at the end of last year.
Citing such numbers, Justice Minister Suzuki said Friday that it is ¡°clear that the majority of the population feel that the death penalty is necessary¡± and that there are currently no plans to abolish it.
Following Friday¡¯s execution, there are now 105 convicts on death row in Japan, 49 of whom are seeking retrial.
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