Japan carried out its first execution in nearly three years on Friday, hanging Takahiro Shiraishi infamously known as the “Twitter Killer” for the grisly murders of nine people he contacted through social media in 2017.
Shiraishi, who strangled and dismembered eight women and one man in his apartment in Zama city near Tokyo, was convicted and sentenced to death in a high-profile case that deeply shocked the nation. His crimes, which exploited vulnerable individuals seeking support online, triggered widespread public and legal debates about internet safety and mental health.
Justice Minister Calls Killings ‘Extremely Selfish’
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki, who signed off on the execution, said the decision followed thorough scrutiny of the case. “The motive was extremely selfish, and the case caused great shock and unrest to society,” Suzuki stated during a press conference. This marks Japan’s first execution since July 2022, when another death row convict was hanged for a 2008 stabbing spree in Tokyo’s Akihabara district. It is also the first execution under Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s administration, which began last October.
Currently, Japan has 105 inmates awaiting execution. The country remains one of the few developed nations to retain capital punishment, with executions carried out by hanging a method increasingly criticised by human rights organisations for its psychological toll. Prisoners are often notified of their execution just hours before it takes place.
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No Plans to Abolish Capital Punishment, Says Minister
Amid renewed scrutiny of Japan’s death penalty policy, Justice Minister Suzuki defended the country’s stance. “It is not appropriate to abolish the death penalty while these violent crimes are still being committed,” he asserted. The execution also comes months after the exoneration of Iwao Hakamada, who spent the world’s longest time on death row before being acquitted in a 1966 wrongful conviction case. That case reignited long-standing concerns about Japan’s judicial system, especially around death penalty protocols.
Despite such debates, the government appears resolute in maintaining the punishment for what it considers the most heinous crimes such as Shiraishi’s calculated, cold-blooded murders that continue to haunt the national conscience.
