Japan carries out death sentence for 2008 Akihabara mass murderer

Japan on Tuesday executed a man convicted of killing seven people in a truck ramming and stabbing rampage in Tokyo’s popular Akihabara electronics district in 2008, the justice ministry said.

Justice Minister Yoshihisa Furukawa said Tomohiro Kato had undertaken “meticulous preparation” for the attack and displayed a “strong intent to kill.”

Furukawa said he “approved the execution after extremely thorough scrutiny,” noting that Kato’s death sentence had been upheld by the court system.

Kato went on the rampage on June 8, 2008, telling police, “I came to Akihabara to kill people. It didn’t matter who I’d kill.”

He was arrested on the spot shortly after the attacks, in which he rammed a rented two- ton truck into a crowd of pedestrians before getting out and randomly stabbing people.

Police said Kato documented his deadly journey to Akihabara on internet bulletin boards, typing messages on a mobile phone from behind the wheel of the truck and complaining of his unstable job and his loneliness.

Prosecutors said his self- confidence plummeted after a woman he chatted with online abruptly stopped emailing him when he sent her a photograph of himself.

His anger against the general public grew when his comments on an internet bulletin board, including his plans to go on a killing spree, were met with no reaction at all, prosecutors said.

After the 2008 rampage, Japan banned possession of double- edged knives with blades longer than 5.5 centimeters, punishable by up to three years in prison or a 500,000 yen fine.

The attack was Japan’s worst mass killing in seven years and Kato was sentenced to death in 2011, a decision that was upheld by Japan’s top court in 2015.

Kato’s execution is the first in Japan this year and comes after three prisoners were hanged in December 2021. Those executions ended a two- year hiatus and were the first under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration.