This photo shows a deadly fire at a pachinko parlor in Osaka, western Japan, July 5, 2009. (Kyodo News via AP)<\/small><\/p>\n
2026-08-21T05:00:38Z<\/p>\n
TOKYO (AP) \u2014 Japan on Friday announced the execution of a man convicted of killing five people after setting fire to an Osaka pachinko parlor in 2009, a first execution by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi<\/a><\/span> \u2018s government as the country faces growing calls for more transparency and the abolition of capital punishment.<\/p>\n The Justice Ministry said Sunao Takami, 58, was hanged to death earlier Friday.<\/p>\n Takami in 2009 set fire to the crowded pachinko parlor in Osaka by spreading gasoline and throwing a lit match, engulfing the building, killing five and injuring 10 others, Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt caused extremely serious outcomes and dealt a major shock and fear to the society,\u201d he told a news conference, adding \u201cthe victims whose lives were taken away must have felt unimaginable pain and fear, and those who suffered injuries … were forced to live with long-term effects.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs justice minister, I have ordered an execution after careful and thorough considerations,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Takami was convicted of murder, attempted murder and arson and sentenced to death in a 2011 Osaka District Court ruling. His appeals up to the top court were rejected in 2016 by a Supreme Court decision upholding the death penalty.<\/p>\n Japan now has 100 people on death row, including 43 seeking retrials, Hiraguchi said.<\/p>\n Japan has faced growing criticism over its use of the death penalty, as a majority of the international community has abolished capital punishment. Japan and the U.S. are the only two countries in the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations that put people to death.<\/p>\n Calls to abolish capital punishment or increase transparency have grown after the 2024 acquittal of the world\u2019s longest-serving death-row inmate, Iwao Hakamada<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n