Tokyo, Aug 21. (dpa/GNA) – Japan has carried out the execution of a 58-year-old man, convicted for killing five people in 2009, Justice Minister Horishi Hiraguchi announced on Friday.
The island nation is one of the few industrialized countries, that still retains the death penalty, although executions are rare.
The 58-year-old was sentenced to death over an arson attack on an amusement arcade, known in Japan as pachinko, in the western city of Osaka 17 years ago. Five people died in the incident.
It was the first execution under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who has been in office since October last year. The previous execution, in June 2025, was of a serial killer, convicted of the murder of nine young people.
He had also been charged with sexually abusing the victims and robbery.
GNA