| Name
|
Crime
|
Time on death row
|
Notes
|
| Shinji Aoba
|
Perpetrator of the Kyoto Animation arson attack, where 36 people died.
|
360 days
|
Aoba committed the arson due to the belief that the animation studio had plagiarized his work.
|
| Ryuta Arai [ja]
|
Drugged and drowned his uncle in 2008, and killed another woman a year later to steal their life insurance
|
12 years, 330 days
|
Accomplice was sentenced to life imprisonment.
|
| Katsumi Asayama [ja]
|
Committed three arson-murders between 2010 and 2011 in an attempt to have his wife return to him.
|
11 years, 222 days
|
Asayama's wife, an accomplice in the third crime, received an 18-year sentence.
|
| Chen Daiwei [ja]
|
Murdered two employees at a pachinko parlor during a failed robbery.
|
29 years, 35 days
|
Chinese illegal aliens and the first foreign nationals to be sentenced to death in Japan since 1964. A third accomplice, alleged to be the ringleader, fled overseas and is an internationally wanted fugitive.
|
| He Li
|
| Yutaro Chiba [ja]
|
Broke into his ex-girlfriend's home and stabbed to death her older sister and a former classmate.
|
14 years, 55 days
|
The ex-girlfriend and a male friend of her older sister were also stabbed, but survived.
|
| Yuki Endo [ja]
|
Killed his ex-girlfriend's parents and set their house on fire in 2021.
|
1 year, 2 days
|
Withdrew his appeals a month after his conviction.
|
| Tsune Eto
|
Murdered a married couple in Sakai.
|
23 years, 303 days
|
|
| Yukiharu Fuchigami
|
Killed an accomplice in a car insurance scam in March 1999, and then another man in September of that year.
|
21 years, 238 days
|
Suffers from muscular dystrophy
|
| Masayasu Fujii
|
Ordered the murders of three people over monetary disputes between 1970 and 1973.
|
47 years, 294 days
|
His two accomplices were also sentenced to death initially, but had the sentences commuted to life on appeal.
|
| Tomoko Fujinami [ja]
|
Kidnapped and killed a high school girl and a female office worker in February and March 1980, then made phone calls to demand ransom.
|
36 years, 345 days
|
A man named Hiroshi Kitano was arrested as her alleged accomplice, but was later found not guilty and exonerated.
Fujinami is currently Japan's longest-serving female death row inmate.
|
| Soji Fujisaki
|
Murdered two elderly women during separate robberies in January 2005.
|
19 years, 28 days
|
Alleged to be mentally-ill.
|
| Ryoji Goto [ja]
|
Gangster who ordered the murders of two acquaintances to avoid being implicated in other crimes.
|
21 years, 330 days
|
Since his original conviction, Goto has confessed involvement in additional murders.
|
| Kunihiko Hamakawa
|
Shot and killed an insurance agent and a trader in separate incidents in 1994, then stole money from their bank accounts.
|
22 years, 32 days
|
His accomplice Haruseki Kin was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the crimes
|
| Shizuo Hasegawa [ja]
|
Hired a hitman to kill his younger brother to so he can acquire their deceased mother's inheritance.
|
17 years, 362 days
|
At the time of the crime, Hasegawa was on parole from a life sentence for a previous murder. The hitman, Katsumi Suzuki, received a 30-year sentence for his role in the murder.
|
| Masumi Hayashi
|
Committed a mass poisoning at a 1998 summer festival by putting poison in a pot of curry. The poisoning killed two children and two adults.
|
22 years, 39 days
|
|
| Hiroaki Hida [ja]
|
Stabbed the president and managing director of a dried fish store during a robbery in 2012.
|
8 years, 56 days
|
Hida, a former employee at the store, claims he is innocent and is appealing to have a retrial.
|
| Kazuo Hokao [ja]
|
Murdered his lover's husband in 1992 and one of her sons in 1998 to secure their insurance.
|
21 years, 354 days
|
His lover, Reiko Yamaguchi, was initially sentenced to death but later had her sentence reduced to life imprisonment.
|
| Kosei Homi
|
Set ablaze multiple buildings in the town of Mitake in July 2013, killing five people.
|
9 years, 236 days
|
|
| Yoshitomo Hori
|
Murdered married couple Kazuo and Satomi Magoori during a robbery of their pachinko parlor in Owariasahi on June 28, 1998.
|
9 years, 65 days
|
He was linked to the crime years later via DNA. Hori later participated as an accomplice in the murder of Rie Isogai, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
|
| Won I-san [ja]
|
Murdered three people as part of a robbery gang active between October and December 1993.
|
28 years, 184 days
|
Malaysian citizen.
|
| Shinichi Shimoyama
|
26 years, 238 days
|
|
| Hiroyuki Ikeda [ja]
|
Murdered the owners of a mahjong parlor over a drug smuggling dispute, dismembering them alive with an electric saw.
|
14 years, 64 days
|
Multiple accomplices were convicted and received lesser sentences, while another remains a wanted fugitive.
First death sentence to be passed by a lay judge in the country.
|
| Hayato Imai
|
Murdered at least three elderly patients at a nursing home from November to December 2014, where he worked as a nurse.
|
6 years, 303 days
|
|
| Takeo Inokuma
|
Former police officer who murdered five people in the vicinity of Lake Yamanaka in October 1984.
|
37 years, 197 days
|
Inokuma asserts that he was forced to commit the killings on behalf of a loan shark.
|
| Keiko Ishikawa
|
Murdered two women in Miyazaki Prefecture in 1994 and 1996.
|
23 years, 213 days
|
|
| Tomohiro Iwakura [ja]
|
Strangled to death four family members and a male neighbor between March and April 2018.
|
4 years, 39 days
|
|
| Toshiaki Kaga
|
Stabbed and strangled a mother and her daughter at their home in Isehara, then withdrew money from their bank accounts.
|
20 years, 350 days
|
|
| Masaharu Kamimiya [ja]
|
Stabbed to death a police officer during a robbery, stole his gun, and then killed a store clerk in another robbery.
|
36 years, 86 days
|
Neither of the murder weapons were never recovered, and Kamimiya continues to insist that he is innocent.
|
| Yukio Kaneiwa [ja]
|
Murdered two girlfriends in 1999 and 2003, dismembering their remains afterwards.
|
17 years, 331 days
|
|
| Hajime Kanekawa [ja]
|
Stabbed to death a 21-year-old housewife in Kumamoto during an attempted rape.
|
41 years, 308 days
|
The crime was committed shortly after he was released from prison for a 1969 murder conviction. Kanekawa was originally sentenced to life imprisonment, but this was changed to a death sentence on appeal.
|
| Tatsuya Kawasaki [ja]
|
Murdered two acquaintances in separate incidents in January and July 2016.
|
6 years, 331 days
|
Withdrew his appeals and his death sentence finalized.
|
| Hiroko Kazama
|
Together with her husband, Gen Sekine and a third accomplice, murdered at least four people who wanted to purchase dogs from their home in Kumagaya from April to August 1993.
|
23 years, 304 days
|
The trio were suspected of several other murders, but were never charged. Sekine died on death row in 2017, and the accomplice, Eikō Yamazaki, turned state's witness.
|
| Kanae Kijima
|
Convicted for poisoning three would-be husbands and suspected of four more, spanning from 2007 to 2009.
|
7 years, 280 days
|
Also known as "The Konkatsu Killer", for her frequenting of "konkatsu" (marriage-hunting) websites.
|
| Mami Kitamura
|
Murdered four people between September 18 to 20, 2004.
|
17 years, 326 days
|
All four member of the family were part of the Kitamura-gumi gang.
|
| Jitsuo Kitamura
|
| Takashi Kitamura
|
| Takahiro Kitamura
|
| Masato Kobayashi
|
Leaders of a gang of youths who raped and murdered three people across three prefectures over a period of 11 days.
|
23 years, 194 days
|
|
| Masayoshi Haga [ja]
|
19 years, 177 days
|
Both Haga and Kurosawa were initially sentenced to life imprisonment, but their sentences were commuted to death on appeal.
|
| Atsushi Kurosawa
|
| Ryuji Kobayashi [ja]
|
Main participant in a gang assault that resulted in two people being buried alive and suffocating to death.
|
17 years, 242 days
|
The mastermind who orchestrated the crime was sentenced to life imprisonment, while the remaining accomplices received lesser sentences.
|
| Masato Kohinata [ja]
|
Sumiyoshi-kai gangsters who murdered a rival gang member and three bystanders during a shooting at a snack bar in Maebashi in 2003.
|
19 years, 236 days
|
|
| Kenichiro Yamada
|
17 years, 243 days
|
| Hirofumi Komatsu [ja]
|
Stabbed to death his wife and five children at their home in Hitachi, then set the house on fire.
|
203 days
|
|
| Takeshi Koizumi [ja]
|
Stabbed to death civil servant Takehiko Yamaguchi and his wife during a home invasion.
|
14 years, 295 days
|
Also attacked another civil servant, Kenji Yoshihara, who survived.
Koizumi, a diagnosed schizophrenic, claimed that the attack was carried out as revenge for the government euthanizing his pet dog.
|
| Masataka Kurayoshi
|
Murdered a man and a woman during a failed robbery in Fukuoka.
|
25 years, 300 days
|
|
| Kazuya Kuwata [ja]
|
Murdered his girlfriend in 2005, followed by his wife in 2010.
|
13 years, 211 days
|
|
| Lin Shinka [ja]
|
Murdered a woman and her son who interrupted him during a burglary in their house.
|
9 years, 334 days
|
Chinese national. He also attacked another one of the sons, who survived the attack.
|
| Hiromi Manaka
|
Murdered two classmates in August and September 1989.
|
30 years, 197 days
|
|
| Toshiaki Masunaga [ja]
|
East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front terrorist who participated in the bombing of several offices between 1972 and 1975, killing eight people and injuring numerous others.
|
45 years, 68 days
|
|
| Tomohiro Matsubara [ja]
|
Murdered a family of three in 2010.
|
13 years, 300 days
|
Three accomplices in the crime received lesser sentences.
|
| Kazufumi Ito
|
13 years, 23 days
|
| Kazuhiro Matsumoto
|
Murdered three people in Japan and the Philippines for insurance fraud between 1994 and 1996.
|
22 years, 355 days
|
His twin brother Akihiro was also sentenced to death, but died awaiting execution in 2016.
|
| Eiichi Shimoura
|
|
| Kenji Matsumoto
|
Murdered two people during separate robberies in September 1990 and September 1991.
|
31 years, 124 days
|
Alleged to be mentally-ill due to being born with Minamata disease.
|
| Misao Matsumoto
|
Severely injured two people in separate attacks in December 1990 and July 1991, later causing their deaths.
|
31 years, 148 days
|
|
| Futoshi Matsunaga
|
Defrauded, tortured and murdered seven to nine people between 1996 and 1998.
|
19 years, 113 days
|
His accomplice, Junko Ogata, received a life sentence.
|
| Nobuyuki Morimoto
|
Murdered two Filipina women.
|
24 years, 324 days
|
One of his accomplices' death sentences was later reduced to life, while the other died before the trial could conclude.
|
| Masami Mukai
|
Murdered two women in separate attacks in Shizuoka and Aichi from 1996 to 1997.
|
24 years, 184 days
|
Alleges that he is innocent for one of the murders, claiming that the police tortured him into confessing.
|
| Seiichiro Muramatsu [ja]
|
Strangled a mother and her adult son during a failed robbery, then set their house ablaze.
|
39 years, 115 days
|
His younger brother was sentenced to life imprisonment.
|
| Katsuhisa Naga [ja]
|
Suffocated his ex-wife when she refused to reconcile with him; later killed a female acquaintance after several days of torture to satisfy his sadistic fetishes.
|
23 years, 32 days
|
|
| Sumio Nakahara
|
Ordered the murders of two Taishu-kai members due to an internal dispute.
|
21 years, 263 days
|
|
| Mitsuru Nakata [ja]
|
Police officer who murdered his wife and two children in Ogori in 2017.
|
5 years, 37 days
|
Due to the fact that the evidence is mostly circumstantial, some allege that Nakata is innocent.
|
| Munehiro Nishiguchi [ja]
|
Murdered two women in separate robberies in November and December 2011.
|
10 years, 315 days
|
|
| Shōzō Nishiyama [ja]
|
Murdered an elderly woman in the mountains near Fukuyama to steal her credit cards.
|
20 years, 271 days
|
Crime was committed while on parole from a life sentence for a previous murder. Originally sentenced to life, later commuted to death on appeal.
Was tried twice before and received a life sentence both times prior to a third retrial, in which he was resentenced to death.
|
| Nobuo Oda [ja]
|
Murder of two employees at an electronics retail store in Fukuoka.
|
56 years, 26 days
|
A juvenile accomplice was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment.
Oda is Japan's longest-serving death row inmate.
|
| Kazuhiro Ogawa
|
Murdered 16 people in an arson attack on an adult video arcade.
|
15 years, 33 days
|
Ogawa told police that he started the fire after deciding to kill himself, but he got scared, and ran away as smoke filled his room.
|
| Hideaki Ogoshi [ja]
|
Murdered his common-law wife's four family members because they convinced her to break up with him over his gambling debts.
|
39 years, 233 days
|
Ogoshi claims that his ex-wife was the true killer, and that he was framed for the murders.
|
| Shosan Ohama [ja]
|
Murdered a woman and her two daughters in Hiratsuka because of his sensitivity to noise.
|
49 years, 91 days
|
Japan's oldest serving inmate. Withdrew his appeals in 1977, but has never been executed due to concerns about his mental health.
|
| Kenji Ohashi
|
Murdered two women in Osaka and Gifu in separate robberies.
|
18 years, 78 days
|
|
| Akihiro Okumoto [ja]
|
Murdered his wife, 5-month-old son and mother-in-law
|
14 years, 73 days
|
|
| Osamu Okura
|
Murdered a colleague and his wife in separate incidents in 2004 and 2005.
|
17 years, 348 days
|
|
| Katsuhisa Omori [ja]
|
East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front terrorist who bombed a government building in Hokkaido, killing two people and injuring at least 80 others.
|
41 years, 296 days
|
Amnesty International alleges that Omori was convicted on flimsy testimony and is actually innocent.
|
| Takayuki Ōtsuki
|
Murdered, robbed and raped 23-year-old Yayoi Motomura and murdered Motomura's 11-month-old daughter, Yuka.
|
16 years, 272 days
|
Sentenced to death although he was not of the age of maturity (20 years of age in Japan) at that time (18 years). Successfully re-sentenced to death after the prosecution team successfully appealed his initial sentence of life imprisonment.
|
| Kiyotaka Oyama [ja]
|
Murdered his wife and father in October 1998 and March 2000, respectively, to collect their life insurance.
|
19 years, 267 days
|
|
| Masayoshi Ozaki [ja]
|
Murdered two people in January 2002 to collect their life insurance.
|
19 years, 248 days
|
|
| Tadashi Hara
|
| Tetsuya Sasaki [ja]
|
Murdered his parents because they disapproved of his relationship with a woman working at a brothel.
|
40 years, 310 days
|
|
| Hiroshi Sakaguchi
|
Murdered two policemen and another person during a shootout with police in a holiday lodge below Mount Asama.
|
42 years, 215 days
|
He is a member of the United Red Army and was involved in the murder of 14 other members of the terrorist organization.
|
| Shoichi Sato
|
Murdered 79-year-old Takako Yamana and 51-year-old son Hiroyuki at their home in Usa during a robbery.
|
201 days
|
|
| Masakazu Shibasaki [ja]
|
Stabbed to death two police officers at a police station in a failed attempt to steal a handgun for a planned bank robbery.
|
33 years, 237 days
|
|
| Takahiro Shiraishi
|
Murdered nine people, mostly suicidal young women he met through Twitter.
|
4 years, 35 days
|
Three of his victims were high school students. He has stated his desire not to appeal his sentence.
|
| Mineo Suga
|
Defrauded and murdered two men in a scheme involving ficticious transactions on construction projects.
|
20 years, 314 days
|
|
| Katsuaki Suzuki [ja]
|
Killed the former president of a textile manufacturing company and his wife in 2004, then stuffed their bodies in an oil drum can.
|
11 years, 207 days
|
The victims' bodies were found in 2009, and Suzuki was charged shortly afterwards. He claimed to have disposed of the bodies at the behest of an unknown third party.
|
| Akihiko Takahashi [ja]
|
Stabbed to death a married couple in Aizuwakamatsu during a botched robbery.
|
11 years, 311 days
|
|
| Suguru Takahashi
|
Gang leader who orchestrated the robbery and subsequent murders of two money lenders in 2001 and 2002.
|
20 years, 300 days
|
|
| Sunao Takami [ja]
|
Set fire to the "Cross Niconico" pachinko parlor, killing five people.
|
13 years, 294 days
|
Currently appealing his sentence on the grounds that Japan's execution method of hanging constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
|
| Yasushi Takao [ja]
|
Pyromaniac who set fires to various homes around Tateyama from 1998 to 2003, killing five people.
|
19 years, 333 days
|
|
| Kazuya Takayanagi [ja]
|
Bludgeoned to death his girlfriend Mika Hatafuji and her friend Yoshimi Tanigawa, who witnessed the crime, and then dismembered their remains.
|
15 years, 308 days
|
|
| Atsuhiko Tanaka
|
Murdered two right-wing politicians in politically-motivated attacks between 1992 and 1994.
|
24 years, 309 days
|
Originally sentenced to life imprisonment, commuted to death on appeal.
|
| Gota Tsutsui [ja]
|
Murdered the mother and grandmother of a woman he was stalking.
|
11 years, 219 days
|
|
| Kazuya Tsuchiya [ja]
|
Murdered three elderly people during robberies in November and December 2014.
|
8 years, 183 days
|
|
| Yoshinori Ueda
|
Perpetrator of the "Osaka Dog Lover Murders", in which he fatally poisoned five people with suxamethonium.
|
26 years, 307 days
|
|
| Satoshi Uematsu
|
Perpetrated a mass stabbing that led to the deaths of 19 disabled people.
|
4 years, 309 days
|
Uematsu was a former worker at the care facility where the incident occurred.
|
| Takashi Uemura
|
Hired gunman who murdered three people from 2010 to 2011.
|
5 years, 310 days
|
Recorded as the longest lay judge trial in the country's history, lasting a total of 207 days. His accomplice was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Two of the victims' bodies have not been found.
|
| Junichi Watanabe
|
Murdered three accomplices in a ficticious billing fraud scheme
|
11 years, 356 days
|
Originally sentenced to life, commuted to death on appeal.
|
| Taishi Shimizu [ja]
|
17 years, 165 days
|
|
| Reo Ito
|
17 years, 243 days
|
| Kiyoshi Watanabe
|
Murdered four prostitutes between 1967 and 1973.
|
49 years, 143 days
|
Originally sentenced to life imprisonment, which was commuted to a death sentence on appeal.
|
| Tsuyoshi Watanabe
|
Murdered a wealthy investment fund manager and his wife in order to obtain their credit cards.
|
10 years, 285 days
|
Charges were dropped against multiple alleged accomplices due to lack of evidence to implicate them.
|
| Koji Yamada
|
Kidnapped and murdered two high school students in August 2015.
|
6 years, 32 days
|
Withdrew his appeals and had his death sentence finalized.
|
| Xie Yidi
|
Murdered 64-year-old Isamu Hayakawa, an owner of a noodle factory, and his 57-year-old wife Yoko during a robbery.
|
18 years, 109 days
|
Chinese national.
|
| Xue Song
|
Murdered a Chinese woman and her husband in Kasukabe when she rejected his romantic advances.
|
22 years, 332 days
|
Chinese national. Has appealed for a retrial, alleging there were procedural mistakes in his original trial.
|
| Shigeru Yagi
|
Orchestrated the fatal poisonings of two customers at his hostess club in Honjō from 1995 to 1999.
|
22 years, 109 days
|
His three female accomplices were also convicted and received lesser sentences. Additionally attempted to murder a third man and is suspected to be involved in a third suspicious death dating back to 1989.
|
| Seijiro Yamano
|
Murdered two people as part of a real estate scam.
|
39 years, 181 days
|
Yamano contends that both murders were made in self-defense. He has written multiple books while on death row.
|
| Morio Yamaguchi
|
Murdered an antique dealer during a robbery, then killed one of his accomplices.
|
23 years, 219 days
|
His other accomplice died before the trial could conclude.
Originally sentenced to death in 1997, but granted a retrial and was initially sentenced to life. This was later commuted to the death sentence again in 2001.
|
| Kenji Yokota
|
Murdered a female acquaintance and then dismembered her corpse.
|
22 years, 111 days
|
Crime committed after parole from a life sentence for a previous murder. Originally sentenced to life imprisonment, but commuted to death on appeal.
|
| Hiroshi Zohta [ja]
|
Murdered two people and injured six others during an unprovoked attack in Ikebukuro in 1999.
|
23 years, 1 day
|
Zohta claimed that the attack was carried out due to his disillusionment with Japanese society.
|
