Japan on Tuesday executed a man who killed seven people in a vehicle crash and stabbing rampage in a crowded Tokyo shopping district in 2008.
Justice Minister Yoshihisa Furukawa told reporters that Tomohiro Kato was hanged at the Tokyo detention centre earlier Tuesday.
Japan has maintained the death penalty despite growing international criticism. Furukawa said capital punishment was a justified response to continuing heinous and violent crime and scrapping it wasn't appropriate at this point.
Furukawa said Kato had thoroughly prepared to commit the mass killings -- "an atrocious act that led to extremely serious consequences and had a major impact on society."
In the attack, Kato drove down his truck on a street in the Akihabara electronics shopping area, slamming into a crowd of people and killing three pedestrians in June 2008. He then got out of the vehicle and stabbed four people to death. He injured or wounded 10 others.
Surveillance footage aired by national broadcaster NHK afterward showed Kato buying hunting knives two days before the attack, laughing with a store worker and at times making stabbing motions with his hands. Media reports also said he had posted on internet message boards several despondent messages and warnings that he was planning to kill people in a mass attack.
Kato, 39, was sentenced to death in 2011 by the Tokyo District Court, and the Supreme Court rejected his appeal in 2015.
Furukawa denied Tuesday's hanging was related to the shooting death of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe earlier this month, which shocked the nation known for strict gun controls and low crime rate.
Tuesday's hanging was the second under the government of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who took office in October.
Japan now has 107 people on death row, including 61 seeking retrials, Furukawa said.
Japan and the U.S. are the only two countries in the Group of Seven advanced nations that retain capital punishment. A survey by the Japanese government showed an overwhelming majority of the public supports executions.
Executions are carried out in high secrecy in Japan, where prisoners are not informed of their fate until the morning they are hanged. Since 2007, Japan has begun disclosing the names of those executed and some details of their crimes, but disclosures are still limited.
Three prisoners were hanged in 2021.
In 2018, Japan hanged 15 people, including the guru of the Aum Shinrikyo cult and 12 former followers convicted in the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway that killed 13 people and sickened thousands.
A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to further regulate fluoride in drinking water because high levels could pose a risk to the intellectual development of children.
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Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting a young woman in northeastern Ontario eight years ago. The former Hedley frontman had pleaded not guilty to sexual assault.
Fedaa Nassar says any time she has heard the phone ring in the last year, she becomes overwhelmed with anxiety.
Police have arrested a Toronto woman in connection with three recent homicides and investigators say that they believe two of the victims may have been 'randomly targeted.'
The body of a British Columbia mountain climber has been located and recovered after the 39-year-old man was reported missing during a solo climb on Washington state's Mount Baker earlier this week.
A Saskatchewan man living in the United States has pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography after he unknowingly provided disturbing videos to an FBI agent he thought was a pedophile.
Melissa Duff-Shore, a Cambridge, Ont. woman who killed her daughter in 2020, has been ordered to a forensic hospital in St. Thomas.
Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting a young woman in northeastern Ontario eight years ago. The former Hedley frontman had pleaded not guilty to sexual assault.
A rural Colorado county courthouse beefed up security Friday after threats were made against staff and a judge who sentenced former county clerk Tina Peters to nearly nine years behind bars for her role in a data breach scheme catalyzed by the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.
Oklahoma's top education official is seeking to purchase 55,000 Bibles for public schools and specifying that each copy contain the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution, which are not commonly found in Bibles but are included in one endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
A French judge in the trial of dozens of men accused of raping an unconscious woman whose now former husband had repeatedly drugged her so that he and others could assault her decided on Friday to allow the public to see some of the video recordings of the alleged rapes.
A judge ripped into a Colorado county clerk for her crimes and lies before sentencing her Thursday to nine years behind bars for a data-breach scheme spawned from the rampant false claims about voting machine fraud in the 2020 presidential race.
The U.S. and British militaries struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen on Friday, going after weapons systems, bases and other equipment belonging to the Iranian-backed rebels, U.S. officials confirmed.
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Convenience store firms that operate thousands of outlets across Canada are taking the federal government to court to overturn regulations that restrict the sale of nicotine pouches to pharmacies.
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Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting a young woman in northeastern Ontario eight years ago. The former Hedley frontman had pleaded not guilty to sexual assault.
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Police have arrested a Toronto woman in connection with three recent homicides and investigators say that they believe two of the victims may have been 'randomly targeted.'
In case you missed it, Â鶹´«Ã½ London has gathered all of the top local stories from this week into one video for your convenience.
Fall conditions have arrived in the Forest City, with chilly mornings and warmer afternoons in the forecast.
The Ministry of Labour is investigating a workplace incident that claimed the lives of two people in Georgian Bluffs, south of Owen Sound.
A woman whose son died last month while at a Penetanguishene, Ont. beach with another family member wants to see safety increased at the beach.
The Ministry of Labour is investigating a workplace incident that claimed the lives of two people in Georgian Bluffs, south of Owen Sound.
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In case you missed it, Â鶹´«Ã½ Windsor has compiled all of the top local stories from this week into one video.
The Detroit Tigers are continuing their postseason push after sweeping the Houston Astros in the Wild Card Series — and the excitement is palpable across the Windsor-Essex region.
A London, Ont. man, who pleaded guilty earlier this year in a harassment case, has been sentenced to two months in jail for criminal harassment of a Windsor, Ont. family.
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To enhance inclusivity at Lethbridge Polytechnic, the institution has launched a new accessibility micro-credential.
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A mother in a community where the cost of living is one of the highest in the country says grocery prices are 'inhumane' and retailers are putting profits ahead of people’s basic human right to food.
A soccer game in England on Tuesday night drove a spike in online traffic across the Atlantic to a website launched by the Newfoundland and Labrador government.
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