- Tomohiro Kato killed seven people in a stabbing rampage in Tokyo in 2008.
- He was sentenced to death by hanging eight years ago. His execution is the country’s first this year.
- Japan is one of the few developed countries that still uses the death penalty.
Japan has executed a mass murderer who killed seven people in a stabbing rampage in Tokyo in 2008. Tomohiro Kato was responsible for one of the most shocking mass murders in Japan’s recent history.
He was 25 years old when he drove a truck into a crowd of pedestrians in the Akihabara shopping district, killing three people.
He then stabbed bystanders with a dagger, killing four and injuring eight others.
He was apprehended by police on the scene and later admitted his crimes in court, claiming that he was enraged by online bullying.
At the time, the crime sparked much debate in Japanese society about random killings, online influence, and failures in mental health support for young people. Knife ownership laws were also tightened in response.
The government confirmed Kato’s execution on Tuesday, eight years after he was sentenced to death.
“The case has been fully tried in the courts and the courts’ final conclusion was the death sentence… I have taken the greatest care possible in considering this case,” Justice Minister Yoshihisa Furukawa said at a press conference.
Kato was executed by hanging in the Tokyo Detention Centre. In 2015, he lost his appeal to commute the sentence in Japan’s highest court.
At the time of his arrest, Kato told police: “I came to Akihabara to slaughter people. It didn’t matter who I was going to kill.”
The Tokyo District Court, which sentenced him in 2011, stated that his heinous crime lacked “a shred of humanity.”
Despite criticism from international and local human rights organizations, Japan remains one of the few developed countries that still uses the death penalty.
Last December, it executed three people. Kato’s execution is the country’s first this year.
More than 100 people are still on death row.
On Tuesday, Mr Furukawa defended his country’s use of the death penalty, saying: “I regret that death penalties are still necessary because heinous crimes never end. As a result, abolishing the penalty is inappropriate.”
When Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took office in late 2021, Japan resumed executions. Prior to that, the country had gone two years without carrying out any executions.
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