Japan carried out its first execution in nearly three years on June 27, 2025, hanging Takahiro Shiraishi—infamous as the “Twitter Killer”—for the 2017 murders and dismemberment of nine young people he lured via social media. Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki, under Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s administration, authorized the sentence as an assertion of societal deterrence. Yet the method’s secrecy—condemned by human-rights advocates—and recent revelations of wrongful convictions continue to cast doubt on the system’s transparency and ethics. As Japan balances public demand for accountability against mounting calls for reform, readers must weigh the price of irreversible punishment in a modern democracy.
Who was this person?
Takahiro Shiraishi was born on October 9, 1990, in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture. Under the Twitter handle “@hangingpro,” he targeted vulnerable individuals, primarily young women and teenage girls expressing suicidal thoughts. Between August and October 2017, he lured nine victims to his apartment, strangled and sexually assaulted them, then dismembered their bodies and hid the remains in coolers and containers. Arrested in October 2017 after a missing-persons alert by a victim’s family, Shiraishi pleaded guilty in October 2020 and received a death sentence that December, with no appeal filed. His execution on June 27, 2025, at the Tokyo Detention House marked Japan’s first hanging since July 2022.
Justice, deterrence, and political signalling
Japan has carried out executions only sporadically in recent years, and Shiraishi’s hanging marked the first under Prime Minister Ishiba’s October 2024 administration. Justice Minister Suzuki described Shiraishi’s crimes as “extremely selfish” and said the sentence reflected the “grave shock and anxiety” inflicted on society. With roughly 105 inmates currently on death row and public support for capital punishment consistently near 83 percent, the government framed this action as both a vital deterrent against egregious violence and evidence of a responsive justice system.
Human-rights concern and systemic critique
Critics decry Japan’s secretive execution process, in which inmates receive mere hours’ notice—a practice labelled “cruel and psychologically brutal” by international rights groups. The 2024 exoneration of Iwao Hakamada—who spent nearly six decades on death row before his conviction was overturned—underscores the risk of coerced confessions and judicial error under Japan’s “hostage justice” system. Both the EU delegation in Tokyo and prominent NGOs swiftly condemned the hanging, urging Japan to abandon capital punishment and reform its criminal justice practices.
The Reader’s Choice
- Retribution or rehabilitation? Does executing Shiraishi serve justice and deter future atrocities, or perpetuate irreversible state violence?
- Secrecy or transparency? Should Japan maintain its current protocols or move toward open, humane procedures that safeguard against wrongful sentences?
- Punishment or prevention? In an age of rising online predation and mental-health crises, might resources be better invested in suicide-prevention and digital-safety measures rather than irreversible retribution?
What does it mean for law and ethics in Japan
- Legal continuity: Confirms hanging remains the sanctioned punishment for multi-victim murders, requiring ministerial sign-off.
- Public sentiment: Strong majority backing lends political legitimacy, even as abolitionist voices grow.
- Human-rights tension: International criticism and high-profile exonerations intensify calls for interrogation and execution method reforms.
- Digital vulnerability: Highlights the dark potential of social media, spurring debates on stricter platform safeguards and expanded mental-health outreach.
- Future precedent: Sets a procedural and moral benchmark for handling exceptional crimes under public scrutiny.
Final Reflection
Takahiro Shiraishi’s execution closes a grim chapter in Japan’s criminal history—but it reopens a deeper debate: Should the state wield irrevocable power to punish the irredeemable, or pursue a justice system guided by transparency, safeguards against error, and prevention of harm? In an age of digital fragility and evolving ethical norms, Japan stands at a crossroads between societal demands for firm accountability and the imperative to protect fundamental human rights.
