Ministry of Justice executes death row inmate Takami Sonao for 2009 Osaka pachinko parlor arson murder

On the morning of the 21st, the Ministry of Justice carried out the execution of death row inmate Takami Sonao (58), who was sentenced to death for murder and other charges in 2009 by setting fire to a pachinko parlor in Osaka's Konohana Ward, killing five people, at the Osaka Detention Center. The decision was made to carry out the death penalty for the first time in 1 year and 2 months, amid calls for a temporary halt to executions and a national debate on whether to maintain or abolish the system.

"If we were to carry out the death penalty under the current circumstances, we would have to be prepared for considerable criticism." A senior Ministry of Justice official said this in July, when the revised Criminal Procedure Law was enacted to review the retrial system.

Iwao Hakamada, a convicted death row inmate, was retried and acquitted in 2024, and during the review debate, even the Liberal Democratic Party said, ``As long as the death penalty system remains in place, if a miscarriage of justice occurs, there is no going back.'' It is believed that the ``acquittal in the retrial of the death penalty case'' was also responsible for the two years and 11 months without an execution until the last execution in June 2025.

That's why this time, "On the evidence...