Death Row Inmate Executed for Deadly Pachinko Parlor Fire

Aug 22, 2026 | News On Japan

OSAKA - Japan executed 58-year-old death row inmate Sunao Takami on August 21 for setting fire to a pachinko parlor in Osaka in 2009, killing five people and injuring 10 others, in the first execution carried out under the Takaichi administration.

The Justice Ministry said Takami had been executed after being convicted of murder, arson and other offenses over the attack.

In 2009, Takami poured gasoline inside a pachinko parlor in Osaka and set it on fire, killing a total of five customers and employees and leaving 10 others with serious or minor injuries.

The Osaka District Court sentenced Takami to death in 2011.

Takami appealed the ruling through the Supreme Court, but the court rejected his final appeal in 2016, making the death sentence final.

Justice Minister Hironori Hiraguchi said the crime had been carried out after careful planning and preparation and was an "extremely brutal act intended to indiscriminately burn to death a large number of people."

He also said the attack had caused "far too serious consequences" and had created a major sense of shock and fear across society.

Hiraguchi said he ordered the execution after carefully considering the circumstances of the case.

The execution was Japan's first in about one year and two months, following the execution of former death row inmate Takahiro Shiraishi, who was 34 at the time and had been convicted of killing nine men and women in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture.

It was also the first execution carried out under the Takaichi administration.

Following Takami's execution, the number of inmates in Japan with finalized death sentences fell to 100.

Source: FNN

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