On Friday, Japan executed Takahiro Shiraishi, a man convicted of murdering nine individuals he lured through social media. This marks the first execution in Japan in nearly three years. Shiraishi was sentenced to death for the brutal killings of eight women and one man in 2017, where he strangled and dismembered his victims in his apartment located in Zama city, Kanagawa, near Tokyo. His actions earned him the moniker 'Twitter killer' due to his use of the platform to contact his victims.

Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki, who sanctioned Shiraishi's execution, stated that he arrived at this decision after a thorough review of the case, emphasizing the convict's 'extremely selfish' motives that led to crimes causing significant societal distress. This execution follows the death penalty carried out in July 2022 for a man involved in a stabbing incident in Tokyo's Akihabara district back in 2008. It is also the first execution since the formation of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's government last October.

In September of the previous year, a Japanese court acquitted Iwao Hakamada, who had spent the longest time on death row globally, after being wrongfully convicted nearly 60 years ago. In Japan, executions are performed by hanging, and death-row inmates are informed of their execution only hours in advance, a practice that has drawn criticism from human rights organizations due to the psychological toll it takes on those awaiting execution. Suzuki remarked during a press conference, 'It is not appropriate to abolish the death penalty while these violent crimes are still being committed.' Currently, Japan has 105 inmates on death row.