• Japan executed Takahiro Shiraishi, the so-called 'Twitter killer,' for murdering nine individuals.
• Shiraishi lured victims from social media, offering assistance with their suicidal intentions.
• The execution is the first since 2022, amid ongoing debates about Japan's death penalty.
• Justice Minister emphasized the crimes caused great societal shock.
• Public support for capital punishment remains high in Japan.

Japan executed 34-year-old Takahiro Shiraishi, known as the "Twitter killer," on June 27, marking the first enactment of capital punishment in the country since 2022. Shiraishi was sentenced to death for killing and dismembering nine people, primarily women, whom he lured via social media, offering to assist those expressing suicidal thoughts, according to South China Morning Post, Channel News Asia, and Reuters.

Shiraishi's grisly murders were committed in his apartment near Tokyo in 2017, where victims' bodies were hidden in coolers and toolboxes sprinkled with cat litter. Justice Minister Keisuke Suzuki stated that Shiraishi acted from "selfish" motives for sexual and financial gain, leading to a wide public condemnation of his actions, reported BBC and Los Angeles Times.

The execution has reignited debates regarding Japan's capital punishment system, which is among the most secretive in the world. Shiraishi received little notice before his execution, consistent with the country's practice, where around 100 inmates remain on death row, and nearly half are appealing their sentences, according to TRT Global and India Times.

The case has stirred public sentiment, as a 2024 survey indicated that approximately 83 percent of Japanese respondents believe in the necessity of the death penalty. Calls for transparency and potential abolition of capital punishment have emerged, particularly following the 2022 acquittal of a long-serving death row inmate, Iwao Hakamada, reports CBS News and Al Jazeera.