Japan has reportedly carried out its first execution in two years, with local media identifying the condemned man as Takahiro Shiraishi, dubbed the “Twitter killer.”
Public broadcaster NHK and other news outlets cited government sources confirming that Shiraishi, 34, was hanged on Friday.
Although the Justice Ministry has not officially confirmed the execution, reports indicate that Shiraishi was put to death for the 2017 murders of nine individuals, most of whom he had met through Twitter, now rebranded as X.
Shiraishi targeted vulnerable users on the platform, many of whom were struggling with suicidal thoughts. He lured his mostly female victims—aged between 15 and 26—to his flat near Tokyo under the pretence of offering to assist them in ending their lives. Once there, he killed and dismembered them, hiding body parts in coolers scattered throughout his small apartment.
The gruesome nature of the crimes shocked the nation. Shiraishi confessed to the murders during his trial and was sentenced to death in 2020.
Japan remains one of only two G7 countries, alongside the United States, to retain capital punishment. The practice continues to enjoy strong public backing. A government survey conducted in 2024 found that 83 per cent of Japanese citizens consider the death penalty “unavoidable.”
Friday’s hanging marks the first execution since July 2022, when Tomohiro Kato was put to death for a deadly rampage in Tokyo’s Akihabara district in 2008. Kato had driven a rented truck into a crowd before attacking bystanders with a knife, leaving seven people dead.
Japan’s death row inmates typically endure prolonged periods in solitary confinement, with many spending years or even decades awaiting execution. Though the law stipulates that hangings should occur within six months of the final court ruling, this deadline is rarely met in practice.
Critics have long denounced the system’s lack of transparency and the psychological toll it takes on prisoners, who are usually informed of their execution only hours before it is carried out, often in the early morning.
One of the most notable mass executions in recent Japanese history occurred in 2018, when Aum Shinrikyo cult leader Shoko Asahara and 12 of his followers were hanged for their roles in the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, which killed 14 people and injured thousands.
As of December 2023, Japan had 107 inmates on death row, according to the Justice Ministry.
