TOKYO (TR) – The Ministry of Justice announced on Friday that it has executed a 58-year-old death row inmate convicted of an arson attack on an Osaka City pachinko parlor in 2009 that left five people dead and 10 others injured, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Aug. 21).
Sunao Takami was sentenced to death for pouring gasoline and setting fire to a bustling pachinko parlor in Osaka’s Konohana Ward. The resulting blaze killed five customers and employees, while inflicting severe and minor injuries on 10 others. His death sentence was finalized in 2016.
During his trials, Takami’s defense team argued that he suffered from delusions from the time of the incident to the present, claiming he was in a state of diminished capacity. His lawyers also contested the method of execution, arguing that death by hanging constitutes “cruel punishment” and violates the Constitution.
However, the Osaka District Court, the Osaka High Court, and ultimately the Supreme Court systematically rejected these claims.
In upholding the death penalty, the top court ruled that Takami’s actions were “consistent from beginning to end” and that his mental symptoms only had an indirect impact on his decision to commit the mass murder. All three courts also ruled that execution by hanging is constitutional.
The execution, ordered by Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi, marks the first in Japan in roughly 14 months. It is also the first execution carried out under the administration of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, which took office last October.
Prior to Takami, Japan’s last execution took place in June of last year, when the state hanged Takahiro Shiraishi, the notorious serial killer who murdered and dismembered nine people in a Zama City apartment.
