Man executed in Japan for 2009 petrol bomb attack killing five people

A man who killed five people in a petrol bomb attack on an Osaka pachinko parlour was executed on Friday, marking Japan's latest use of capital punishment.

Sunao Takami doused the gaming venue near his home with petrol and set it ablaze in 2009, killing four customers and one employee. The victims died in the fire at the parlour, which operates a popular game that mixes pinball and slot machines using small steel balls.

Death penalty support remains high

Japan remains one of only two G7 nations still carrying out executions, alongside the United States. A 2024 government survey found 83 per cent of Japanese respondents viewed the death penalty as "unavoidable".

Support for abolition has nearly doubled in five years, rising from nine per cent to 17 per cent, though it remains a minority position.

Critics have long condemned Japan's execution protocol, under which death row inmates are informed only on the morning of their hanging that they will die that day. The practice gives condemned prisoners no advance notice to prepare or say final goodbyes.

Execution rates have varied sharply in recent years, with 15 carried out in 2018, three in both 2019 and 2021, and just one in 2022, according to justice ministry figures. Around 100 people currently remain on death row.

Source: South China Morning Post