Japan carried out its first execution in nearly three years on Friday (June 27, 2025), hanging Takahiro Shiraishi, widely known as the “Twitter killer”, for the 2017 murders of nine people.
Shiraishi was convicted of luring eight women and one man through social media, strangling them, and dismembering their bodies at his apartment in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo. His crimes shocked the nation and drew global attention due to his use of Twitter to target vulnerable individuals.
Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki, who authorized the execution, described Shiraishi’s motives as “extremely selfish” and said the killings caused “great shock and unrest to society.” Suzuki stated the decision followed a thorough review of the case.
This marks Japan’s first execution since July 2022, when a man convicted of a deadly stabbing spree in Tokyo’s Akihabara district in 2008 was hanged. It is also the first execution under Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s administration, which took office in October last year.
Japan remains one of the few developed countries that retains capital punishment, with executions carried out by hanging. Prisoners are typically informed only hours before the execution — a practice long criticized by human rights organizations for its psychological toll.
“There is no justification for abolishing the death penalty while such heinous crimes continue to occur,” Suzuki said at a press conference, noting that Japan currently has 105 inmates on death row.
Last year, a high-profile case involving Iwao Hakamada, who was acquitted after spending decades on death row for a crime he did not commit, sparked renewed debate on the use of capital punishment in Japan.