List of executions in Japan explained

Capital punishment is a legal penalty for murder in Japan, and is applied in cases of multiple murder or aggravated single murder. Executions in Japan are carried out by hanging, and the country has seven execution chambers, all located in major cities.

After a four-year moratorium, executions resumed in 1993 and up to 15 have taken place almost each year since then. Thirteen of those executed in 2018, under former Minister of Justice and former think tank researcher Yōko Kamikawa, had taken part in the Tokyo subway sarin attack of 1995.

List of people executed since 1993

	Name	Age	Sex	Date	Place	Crime	Victim(s)	Minister
1	Seikichi Kondo	55	M	26 March 1993	Sendai	Multiple murders	2	Masaharu Gotoda
2	Shujiro Tachikawa	62	M		Osaka	Multiple murders	2
3	Tetsuo Kawanaka	48	M		Osaka	Multiple murders	3
4	Tadao Kojima	61	M	26 November 1993	Sapporo	Multiple murders	3	Akira Mikazuki
5	Yukio Seki	47	M		Tokyo	Single murder	1
6	Hideo Deguchi	70	M		Osaka	Multiple murders	2
7	Toru Sakaguchi	56	M		Osaka
8	Yukio Ajima	44	M	1 December 1994	Tokyo	Multiple murders	3	Isao Maeda
9	Kazumi Sasaki	66	M		Sendai	Multiple murders*	2
10	Eiji Fujioka	40	M	26 May 1995	Osaka	Multiple murders	2
11	Fusao Suda	54	M		Tokyo	Single murder	1
12	Shigeho Tanaka	69	M		Tokyo	Single murder	1
13	Shuji Kimura	45	M	21 December 1995	Nagoya	Single murder	1	Hiroshi Miyazawa
14	Naoto Hirata	63	M		Fukuoka	Multiple murders	2
15	Tokujirou Shinohara	68	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders*	2
16	Yoshiaki Sugimto	49	M	11 July 1996	Fukuoka	Single murder	1	Ritsuko Nagao
17	Kazumi Yokoyama	43	M		Fukuoka
18	Mikio Ishida	48	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	2
19	Yoshihito Imai	55	M	20 December 1996	Tokyo	Multiple murders	3	Isao Matsuura
20	Mitsunari Hirata	60	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	2
21	Satoru Noguchi	50	M		Tokyo
22	Yasumasa Hidaka	54	M	1 August 1997	Sapporo	Multiple murders	7
23	Nobuko Hidaka	51	F		Sapporo
24	Hideki Kanda	43	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	3
25	Norio Nagayama	48	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	4
26	Masahiro Muratake	54	M	25 June 1998	Fukuoka	Multiple murders	3	Kokichi Shimoinaba
27	Yukihisa Takeyasu	66	M		Fukuoka	Multiple murders*	1
28	Shinji Shimazu	66	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders*	1
29	Masamichi Ida	56	M	19 November 1998	Nagoya	Multiple murders	3	Shozaburo Nakamura
30	Tatsuaki Nishio	61	M		Nagoya	Single murder	1
31	Akira Tsuda	59	M		Hiroshima	Single murder	1
32	Masashi Satou	62	M	10 September 1999	Tokyo	Multiple murders*	1	Takao Jinnouchi
33	Katsutoshi Takada	61	M		Sendai	Multiple murders*	1
34	Tetsuyuki Morikawa	69	M		Fukuoka	Multiple murders*	2
35	Teruo Ono	62	M	17 December 1999	Fukuoka	Multiple murders*	1	Hideo Usui
36	Kazuo Sagawa	48	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	2
37	Kiyotaka Katsuta	52	M	30 November 2000	Nagoya	Multiple murders	8	Okiharu Yasuoka
38	Takashi Miyawaki	57	M		Nagoya	Multiple murders	3
39	Kunikatsu Oishi	55	M		Fukuoka	Multiple murders	3
40	Toshihiko Hasegawa	51	M	27 December 2001	Nagoya	Multiple murders	3	Mayumi Moriyama
41	Kojiro Asakura	66	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	5
42	Ryuya Haruta	36	M	18 September 2002	Fukuoka	Single murder	1
43	Yoshiteru Hamada	51	M		Nagoya	Multiple murders*	3
44	Sinji Mukai	42	M	12 September 2003	Osaka	Multiple murders	3
45	Sueo Shimazaki	59	M	14 September 2004	Fukuoka	Multiple murders	3	Daizo Nozawa
46	Mamoru Takuma	40	M		Osaka	Multiple murders	8
47	Susumu Kitagawa	58	M	16 September 2005	Osaka	Multiple murders	2	Chieko Nono
48	Hiroaki Hidaka	44	M	25 December 2006	Hiroshima	Multiple murders	4	Jinen Nagase
49	Yoshimitsu Akiyama	77	M		Tokyo	Single murder	1
50	Yoshio Fujinami	75	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	2
51	Michio Fukuoka	64	M		Osaka	Multiple murders	3
52	Yoshikatsu Oda	59	M	27 April 2007	Fukuoka	Multiple murders	2
53	Masahiro Tanaka	42	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	4
54	Kosaku Nada	56	M		Osaka	Multiple murders	2
55	Hifumi Takezawa	69	M	23 August 2007	Tokyo	Multiple murders	3
56	Kozo Segawa	60	M		Nagoya	Multiple murders	2
57	Yoshio Iwamoto	62	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	2
58	Seiha Fujima	47	M	7 December 2007	Tokyo	Multiple murders	5	Kunio Hatoyama
59	Hiroki Fukawa	42	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	2
60	Noboru Ikemoto	75	M		Osaka	Multiple murders	3
61	Masahiko Matsubara	63	M	1 February 2008	Osaka	Multiple murders	2
62	Takashi Mochida	65	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders*	1
63	Keishi Nago	37	M		Fukuoka	Multiple murders	2
64	Kaoru Okashita	61	M	10 April 2008	Tokyo	Multiple murders	2
65	Masahito Sakamoto	41	M		Tokyo	Single murder	1
66	Katsuyoshi Nakamoto	64	M		Osaka	Multiple murders	2
67	Masaharu Nakamura	61	M		Osaka	Multiple murders	2
68	Tsutomu Miyazaki	45	M	17 June 2008	Tokyo	Multiple murders	4
69	Yoshio Yamasaki	73	M		Osaka	Multiple murders	2
70	Shinji Mutsuda	37	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	2
71	Yoshiyuki Mantani	68	M	11 September 2008	Osaka	Multiple murders*	1	Okiharu Yasuoka
72	Mineteru Yamamoto	68	M		Osaka	Multiple murders	2
73	Isamu Hirano	61	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders*	2
74	Michitoshi Kuma	70	M	28 October 2008	Fukuoka	Multiple murders	2	Eisuke Mori
75	Masahiro Takashio	55	M		Sendai	Multiple murders	2
76	Yukinari Kawamura	44	M	28 January 2009	Nagoya	Multiple murders	2
77	Tetsuya Sato	39	M		Nagoya
78	Shojiro Nishimoto	32	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	4
79	Tadashi Makino	58	M		Fukuoka	Multiple murders*	1
80	Hiroshi Maeue	40	M	28 July 2009	Osaka	Multiple murders	3
81	Yukio Yamaji	25	M		Osaka	Multiple murders*	2
82	Chen Detong	41	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	3
83	Kazuo Shinozawa	59	M	28 July 2010^[1]	Tokyo	Multiple murders	6	Keiko Chiba
84	Hidenori Ogata	33	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	2
85	Yasuaki Uwabe	48	M	29 March 2012^[2]	Hiroshima	Multiple murders	5	Toshio Ogawa
86	Tomoyuki Furusawa	46	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	3
87	Yasutoshi Matsuda	44	M		Fukuoka	Multiple murders	2
88	Junya Hattori	40	M	3 August 2012^[3]	Tokyo	Single murder	1	Makoto Taki
89	Kyozo Matsumura	31	M		Osaka	Multiple murders	2
90	Sachiko Eto	65	F	27 September 2012^[4]	Sendai	Multiple murders	6
91	Yukinori Matsuda	39	M		Fukuoka	Multiple murders	2
92	Masahiro Kanagawa	29	M	21 February 2013^[5]	Tokyo	Multiple murders	2	Sadakazu Tanigaki
93	Keiki Kano	62	M		Nagoya	Multiple murders*	1
94	Kaoru Kobayashi	44	M		Osaka	Single murder	1
95	Katsuji Hamasaki	64	M	26 April 2013^[6]	Tokyo	Multiple murders	2
96	Yoshihide Miyagi	56	M		Tokyo
97	Tokuhisa Kumagai	73	M	12 September 2013^[7]	Tokyo	Single murder	1
98	Mitsuo Fujishima	55	M	12 December 2013^[8]	Tokyo	Multiple murders	2
99	Ryoji Kagayama	63	M		Osaka	Multiple murders	2
100	Masanori Kawasaki	68	M	26 June 2014^[9]	Osaka	Multiple murders	3
101	Mitsuhiro Kobayashi	56	M	29 August 2014^[10]	Sendai	Multiple murders	5
102	Tsutomu Takamizawa	59	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	3
103	Tsukasa Kanda	44	M	25 June 2015^[11]	Nagoya	Single murder	1	Yōko Kamikawa
104	Sumitoshi Tsuda	63	M	18 December 2015^[12]	Sendai	Multiple murders	3	Mitsuhide Iwaki
105	Kazuyuki Wakabayashi	39	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	2
106	Yasutoshi Kamata	75	M	25 March 2016^[13]	Osaka	Multiple murders	5
107	Junko Yoshida	56	F		Fukuoka	Multiple murders	2
108	Kenichi Tajiri	45	M	10 November 2016^[14]	Fukuoka	Multiple murders	2	Katsutoshi Kaneda
109	Masakatsu Nishikawa	61	M	13 July 2017^[15]	Osaka	Multiple murders	4
110	Koichi Sumida	34	M		Hiroshima	Single murder	1
111	Teruhiko Seki	44	M	19 December 2017^[16]	Tokyo	Multiple murders	4	Yōko Kamikawa^[17]
112	Kiyoshi Matsui	69	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	3
113	Shoko Asahara	63	M	6 July 2018^[18]	Tokyo	Multiple murders	29
114	Seiichi Endo	58	M		Tokyo
115	Masami Tsuchiya	53	M		Tokyo
116	Tomomitsu Niimi	54	M		Osaka
117	Yoshihiro Inoue	48	M		Osaka
118	Tomomasa Nakagawa	55	M		Hiroshima
119	Kiyohide Hayakawa	68	M		Fukuoka
120	Satoru Hashimoto	51	M	26 July 2018^[19]	Tokyo
121	Yasuo Hayashi	60	M		Sendai
122	Kenichi Hirose	54	M		Tokyo
123	Toru Toyoda	50	M		Tokyo
124	Masato Yokoyama	54	M		Nagoya
125	Kazuaki Okazaki	57	M		Nagoya
126	Keizo Okamoto	60	M	27 December 2018^[20]	Osaka	Multiple murders	2	Takashi Yamashita
127	Hiroya Suemori	67	M		Osaka
128	Koichi Shoji	64	M	2 August 2019^[21]	Tokyo	Multiple murders	2
129	Yasunori Suzuki	50	M		Fukuoka	Multiple murders	3
130	Wei Wei	40	M	26 December 2019^[22]	Fukuoka	Multiple murders	4	Masako Mori
131	Yasutaka Fujishiro	65	M	21 December 2021^[23]	Osaka	Multiple murders	7	Yoshihisa Furukawa
132	Tomoaki Takanezawa	54	M		Tokyo	Multiple murders	2
133	Mitsunori Onogawa	44	M		Tokyo
134	Tomohiro Katō	39	M	26 July 2022^[24]	Tokyo	Multiple murders	7

The number of people executed in Japan since 1993

1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
7	2	6	6	4	6	5	3	2	2	1	2	1	4	9	15	7	2	0	7
2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028	2029	2030	2031	2032
8	3	3	3	4	15	3	0	3	1	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Note: Inmates noted with a * were sentenced to death for murder(s) committed while on parole for another murder

See also

• List of death row inmates in Japan
• Lists of people executed in the United States

Notes and References

1. News: Japan hangs two death row inmates . bbc.com . 28 July 2010.
2. News: Three hanged; executions are first since '10 . japantimes.co.jp . 30 March 2012.
3. News: Japan hangs death-row inmates. iol.co.za. 3 August 2012.
4. News: Japanese Cult Leader, Sachiko Eto, Executed By Hanging, First Woman To Be Executed Since 1997 . theglobaldispatch.com . 28 September 2012.
5. News: 3 death-row convicts executed in Japan . asiaone.com . 22 February 2013 .
6. News: Japan executes two Yakuza gangsters for shooting rivals . straitstimes.com . 26 April 2013 .
7. News: Japan executes 73-year old man, 6th under Abe's administration . japandailypress.com . 12 September 2013 . 26 July 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160403212752/http://japandailypress.com/japan-executes-73-year-old-man-6th-under-abes-administration-1235810/ . 3 April 2016 . dead .
8. News: Japan hangs two criminals; Abe's execution count stands at eight . www.tokyoweekender.com . 13 December 2013.
9. News: Japan carries out first execution of 2014 . business-standard.com . 26 June 2014 .
10. News: Takefuji arsonist, ex-yakuza hanged for eight murders . japantimes.co.jp . 29 August 2014.
11. News: 25 June 2015 . ja:「闇サイト殺人事件」の神田司死刑囚の死刑執行　第３次安倍内閣で初 . Execution of death row inmate Tsukasa Kanda for "dark site murders" - the first execution under the Third Abe Cabinet. . https://www.sankei.com/article/20150625-NYE3FOOZ2JINZC2VMQC2HZX7WE/ . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220928183300/https://www.sankei.com/article/20150625-NYE3FOOZ2JINZC2VMQC2HZX7WE/ . 28 September 2022 . . ja.
12. News: Japan hangs two murderers in first jury-trial executions . nypost.com . 18 December 2015.
13. News: Japan sends two more inmates to the gallows . japantimes.co.jp . 25 March 2016.
14. News: Japan: Man hanged as secretive executions continue . Amnesty International . 11 November 2016.
15. News: Two convicted killers executed, including one seeking a retrial . 13 July 2017.
16. News: Japan: Two hanged as secretive executions continue. Amnesty International. 19 December 2017.
17. News: V Japonsku za premiéra Šinza Abeho popravili 21 ľudí. Aktuality.sk. Ringier Axel Springer Slovakia, a.s.. 19 December 2017. Bratislava, Slovakia. Slovak.
18. News: AUM Shinrikyo cult founder Asahara, 6 ex-followers executed at once. 6 July 2018. 26 July 2018. Mainichi Daily News.
19. News: Japan hangs all 6 remaining Aum death row inmates. Japan Today. 26 July 2018. 26 July 2018.
20. Web site: Two Japanese death row inmates executed over 1988 robbery-murders of Cosmo Research president and employee. 27 December 2018.
21. Web site: Japan hangs 2 death-row inmates, 1st executions this year. 2 August 2019. 2 August 2019.
22. News: Chinese man executed for killing family of four in Fukuoka. https://web.archive.org/web/20210225025417/https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201912260033.html. 25 February 2021.
23. Web site: Japan carries out first executions under PM Fumio Kishida. 21 December 2021. 21 December 2021. South China Morning Post. https://archive.today/20220426081242/https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3160495/japan-carries-out-first-executions-under-pm-fumio-kishida. 26 April 2022.
24. Web site: Assailant in Tokyo's Akihabara fatal rampage executed . The Japan Times . 26 July 2022.