Japan has carried out its first execution since 2022, putting to death Takahiro Shiraishi, the man behind the infamous 2017 “Twitter killer” case that shocked the nation.

Shiraishi, then 30, lured his victims – most of them young women between the ages of 15 and 26 – to his apartment, before strangling and dismembering them, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

The killings came to light in October 2017, when police found body parts in the Japanese city of Zama, near Tokyo, when they were searching for one of the victims.

Shiraishi later admitted to murdering nine suicidal victims and revealed that he got acquainted with them on Twitter, the social media platform now known as X.

He then told them he could help them die, and in some cases claimed he would kill himself alongside them.

His Twitter profile contained the words: “I want to help people who are really in pain. Please DM [direct message] me anytime.”

Nine dismembered bodies were found in coolers and tool boxes when officers visited his flat, which was dubbed by media outlets as a “house of horrors”.

While prosecutors sought the death penalty for Shiraishi, his lawyers argued for the lesser charge of “murder with consent”, claiming his victims had given their permission to be killed.

They also called for an assessment of his mental state.

Shiraishi later disputed his own defence team’s version of events and said he killed without the victims’ consent.

Hundreds of people showed up at his verdict hearing in December 2020, when he was sentenced to death.

The murders also prompted a change by Twitter, which amended its rules to state users should not “promote or encourage suicide or self-harm”.

News.Az

07:01 (IST) Jun 27

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Japan executes man convicted of murder for killing and dismembering 9 people

toggle caption Takuya Inaba/Kyodo News/AP

TOKYO — A man convicted of murder for killing and dismembering nine people in his apartment near Tokyo was executed Friday, Japan’s Justice Ministry said.

Takahiro Shiraishi, known as the “Twitter killer,” was sentenced to death in 2020 for the killings in 2017 of the nine victims, most of whom had posted suicidal thoughts on social media. He was also convicted of sexually abusing female victims.

The execution was carried out as calls grow to abolish capital punishment in Japan since the acquittal of the world’s longest-serving death-row inmate Iwao Hakamada last year.

Shiraishi was hanged at the Tokyo Detention House in high secrecy with nothing disclosed until the execution was done.

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Police arrested him in 2017 after finding the bodies of eight females and one male in cold-storage cases in his apartment.

Investigators said Shiraishi approached the victims via Twitter, offering to assist them with their suicidal wishes. He killed the eight women, including teenagers, after raping them, and also killed a boyfriend of one of the women to silence him.

Japan’s suicide rate ranks among the world’s highest. Following a recent decline, the number has climbed back this year as people were hit by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japan’s crime rate is relatively low, but it has seen some high-profile mass killings in recent years.

This is reported by NHK

On June 27, 2025, Japan carried out a death sentence for the first time since July 2022. The execution involved 34-year-old Takahiro Shiraishi, who was convicted of murdering nine people in the city of Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture.

According to NHK, Shiraishi, known as the “Twitter killer,” used social media to lure his victims by offering support during difficult times, particularly to people with suicidal thoughts. He then committed sexual violence, killed his victims, and kept their remains in his apartment. In addition to the murders, he was also charged with robbery.

The death sentence was handed down in 2020. Although his lawyer filed an appeal, Shiraishi later withdrew it himself, leading to the sentence becoming final.

The execution was carried out at the Tokyo Detention House. This marked the first execution since the formation of the new government led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Takahiro Shiraishi, also known as the infamous “Twitter Killer” was executed by Japan on Friday for murdering and dismembering nine individuals, mostly women, after luring them via social media. Shiraishi had pleaded guilty to all murders that had rattled Japan. This is the first time in three years that the country used execution as capital punishment.

Who was Takahiro Shiraishi and why the name ‘Twitter Killer’?

In December 2020, Shiraishi was found guilty of killing, raping, and cutting up the bodies of nine people, then keeping their remains in his apartment in Zama, Kanagawa prefecture, near Tokyo.

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He was arrested in October 2017 after police began looking into the case of a 23-year-old woman who had gone missing. She had shared suicidal thoughts on social media, including Twitter (now X). Her brother got into her Twitter account and helped guide the police to Shiraishi’s home, where they discovered the dismembered remains of nine people.

According to NHK and TV Asahi, all the victims had posted their thoughts online about wanting to end their lives. Shiraishi contacted them through social media using his X handle (formerly Twitter) “hangman”, and convinced them to come to his apartment near Tokyo while promising to help them die. Once there, he killed them and hid parts of their bodies in coolers and toolboxes, using cat litter to try to cover up the smell.

Shiraishi’s lawyers claimed he should be sent to prison instead of being sentenced to death, arguing that the victims had wanted to die and had agreed to it. However, the judge rejected that claim, describing Shiraishi’s actions as “cunning and cruel,” based on reports from that time.

The widely followed mass murder case captured national attention for years and sparked debates about the dangers of social media. According to court proceedings reported by Japanese public broadcaster NHK and TV Asahi, the nine victims, aged between 15 and 26, had posted messages online expressing a desire to end their lives. Shiraishi contacted them through social media before luring them to his apartment.

Shiraishi’s lawyer initially appealed the court’s decision to the Tokyo High Court, but later withdrew the appeal. As a result, the sentence became final, NHK reported.