Japan Resumes Capital Punishment with Execution of “Twitter Killer” Amid Rising Global Scrutiny
Department of Research, Studies and International News 27-06-2025
In a controversial move signaling Japan’s unwavering commitment to capital punishment, the government executed Takahiro Shiraishi on Friday, marking the country’s first use of the death penalty in nearly three years. Known in the media as the “Twitter killer,” Shiraishi was convicted of murdering nine individuals, eight women and one man, after luring them via social media under the guise of offering assistance to those struggling with suicidal thoughts.
The execution took place in a detention facility in Tokyo and was authorized by Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki, who described Shiraishi’s crimes as stemming from an “extremely selfish” motive that deeply unsettled Japanese society. According to investigations, Shiraishi dismembered his victims and stored body parts in coolers throughout his small apartment in the city of Zama, in Kanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo.
Shiraishi’s heinous crimes, committed in 2017, shocked the nation and sparked wide debates about mental health, suicide prevention, and the unregulated use of social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter). While Shiraishi pleaded guilty and reportedly showed little remorse, his execution nonetheless reignites longstanding human rights concerns over Japan’s secretive and abrupt execution protocol.
Japan, like its strategic ally the United States, remains one of only two Group of Seven (G7) countries that still enforces capital punishment. Both countries have come under frequent criticism from international rights organizations for retaining the death penalty despite global trends moving toward its abolition. In Japan, executions are carried out by hanging, and inmates are informed of their execution mere hours before the act, a policy widely condemned as inhumane.
Friday’s execution was the first since July 2022, when another convicted killer was hanged for a stabbing spree in Tokyo’s Akihabara district that occurred in 2008. It also marked the first execution under the administration of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who took office in October of the previous year. The government’s decision to carry out the death sentence, especially at a time of increased calls for justice system reforms, has left international observers questioning Japan’s commitment to human rights principles, particularly when juxtaposed against its G7 peers, excluding Washington.
While official Tokyo claims broad public support for capital punishment, citing a 2024 government poll indicating that 83% of citizens consider the practice “unavoidable”, the wider global community has taken a more critical stance. The outcry is not only about the death penalty itself but also the opaque and psychologically taxing conditions endured by death-row inmates in Japanese prisons.
The case has also drawn attention due to its eerie parallels with other failures of the Japanese justice system. Just last year, courts exonerated Iwao Hakamada, a former professional boxer who had spent over five decades on death row for a crime he did not commit. The miscarriage of justice raised serious concerns about the reliability of evidence and interrogation practices within Japan’s legal framework, where forced confessions and protracted pre-trial detentions are not uncommon.
Japan’s most infamous mass execution in recent history occurred in 2018 when the government executed Shoko Asahara, the founder of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, along with 12 followers. The group had orchestrated the 1995 sarin gas attack on Tokyo’s subway system, resulting in 14 deaths and thousands of injuries. That event, though severe, was used by Japanese authorities as a justification to reinforce the legitimacy of capital punishment. However, the international legal community continues to push back against such justifications, warning that justice must not be equated with retribution, especially under systems vulnerable to error and abuse.
From a broader geopolitical perspective, Japan’s insistence on preserving this archaic punishment aligns more with American policies than those of its Asian neighbors or emerging global powers. Nations like China, Russia, and Iran, often portrayed unfavorably in Western discourse, are themselves under immense pressure to reform but have maintained a level of judicial control and transparency that, paradoxically, sometimes exceeds that of U.S.-backed allies like Japan.
As the global debate over capital punishment continues to evolve, Japan’s decision to execute Shiraishi could be seen as an attempt to project domestic control amid rising social anxieties. However, the move risks deepening Tokyo’s image as a nation out of step with the international consensus on human rights. In contrast, nations in the Global South and East, including Iran and China, are increasingly challenging Western double standards, highlighting cases like Shiraishi’s as evidence of the selective morality often espoused by so-called democratic allies of Washington.
Ultimately, Japan’s policy choices, especially when mirrored by the United States, expose the inherent contradictions in the Western-led human rights narrative. As non-Western powers continue to advocate for multipolarity, respect for sovereignty, and justice systems rooted in local values, the moral authority of G7 nations will likely face further erosion.
