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TOKYO — Takahiro Shiraishi, dubbed the “Twitter killer,” was executed by hanging on Friday, Japan’s Justice Ministry confirmed. Shiraishi was sentenced to death in 2020 for the murder and dismemberment of nine people in his Tokyo-area apartment in 2017.
His victims, mostly women who had expressed suicidal thoughts on social media, were lured to Shiraishi’s apartment under the pretense of assisting with their suicidal ideations. He was also convicted of sexually assaulting the female victims.
The execution comes amid renewed debate surrounding Japan’s death penalty, particularly following the acquittal of Iwao Hakamada last year, who had spent decades on death row. Shiraishi’s execution was carried out discreetly at the Tokyo Detention House, with no details released until after the sentence was carried out.
Police apprehended Shiraishi in 2017 after discovering the remains of eight women and one man in cold-storage containers within his apartment. Investigators revealed that Shiraishi connected with his victims via Twitter, offering to help them carry out their suicidal plans.
He murdered the eight women, some of them teenagers, after raping them. He also killed the boyfriend of one victim to prevent him from reporting the crimes.
This case highlights Japan’s ongoing struggle with suicide, which remains a pressing social issue. While numbers had previously declined, there has been a recent uptick attributed to the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though Japan generally maintains a low crime rate, several high-profile mass killings have occurred in recent years.