# List of death row inmates in Japan

The country of Japan had 107 people on death row as of December 21, 2021.

## List of death row inmates

| Name | Crime | Time on death row | Notes |
| Shinji Aoba | Perpetrator of the Kyoto Animation arson attack, where 36 people died. | 342 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, 312 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, 204 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, 17 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 | Murdered two employees at a pachinko parlor during a failed robbery. | 29 years, 17 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. |
| Yutaro Chiba [ja] | Broke into his ex-girlfriend's home and stabbed to death her older sister and a former classmate. | 14 years, 37 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. | 350 days | Withdrew his appeals a month after his conviction. |
| Tsune Eto | Murdered a married couple in Sakai. | 23 years, 285 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, 220 days | Suffers from muscular dystrophy |
| Masayasu Fujii | Ordered the murders of three people over monetary disputes between 1970 and 1973. | 47 years, 276 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, 327 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, 10 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, 312 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, 14 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, 344 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, 21 days | |
| Hiroaki Hida [ja] | Stabbed the president and managing director of a dried fish store during a robbery in 2012. | 8 years, 38 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, 336 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, 218 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, 47 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, 166 days | Malaysian citizen. |
| Shinichi Shimoyama | Murdered three people as part of a robbery gang active between October and December 1993. | 26 years, 220 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, 46 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, 285 days | |
| Takeo Inokuma | Former police officer who murdered five people in the vicinity of Lake Yamanaka in October 1984. | 37 years, 179 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, 195 days | |
| Tomohiro Iwakura [ja] | Strangled to death four family members and a male neighbor between March and April 2018. | 4 years, 21 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, 332 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, 68 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, 313 days | |
| Hajime Kanekawa [ja] | Stabbed to death a 21-year-old housewife in Kumamoto during an attempted rape. | 41 years, 290 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, 313 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, 286 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, 262 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, 308 days | All four member of the family were part of the Kitamura-gumi gang. |
| Jitsuo Kitamura | Murdered four people between September 18 to 20, 2004. | 17 years, 308 days | All four member of the family were part of the Kitamura-gumi gang. |
| Takashi Kitamura | Murdered four people between September 18 to 20, 2004. | 17 years, 308 days | All four member of the family were part of the Kitamura-gumi gang. |
| Takahiro Kitamura | Murdered four people between September 18 to 20, 2004. | 17 years, 308 days | All four member of the family were part of the Kitamura-gumi gang. |
| 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, 176 days | |
| Masayoshi Haga [ja] | Leaders of a gang of youths who raped and murdered three people across three prefectures over a period of 11 days. | 19 years, 159 days | Both Haga and Kurosawa were initially sentenced to life imprisonment, but their sentences were commuted to death on appeal. |
| Atsushi Kurosawa | Leaders of a gang of youths who raped and murdered three people across three prefectures over a period of 11 days. | 19 years, 159 days | Both Haga and Kurosawa were initially sentenced to life imprisonment, but their sentences were commuted to death on appeal. |
| Ryuji Kobayashi [ja] | Main participant in a gang assault that resulted in two people being buried alive and suffocating to death. | 17 years, 224 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, 218 days | |
| Kenichiro Yamada | Sumiyoshi-kai gangsters who murdered a rival gang member and three bystanders during a shooting at a snack bar in Maebashi in 2003. | 17 years, 225 days | |
| Hirofumi Komatsu [ja] | Stabbed to death his wife and five children at their home in Hitachi, then set the house on fire. | 185 days | |
| Takeshi Koizumi [ja] | Stabbed to death civil servant Takehiko Yamaguchi and his wife during a home invasion. | 14 years, 277 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, 282 days | |
| Kazuya Kuwata [ja] | Murdered his girlfriend in 2005, followed by his wife in 2010. | 13 years, 193 days | |
| Lin Shinka [ja] | Murdered a woman and her son who interrupted him during a burglary in their house. | 9 years, 316 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, 179 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, 50 days | |
| Tomohiro Matsubara [ja] | Murdered a family of three in 2010. | 13 years, 282 days | Three accomplices in the crime received lesser sentences. |
| Kazufumi Ito | Murdered a family of three in 2010. | 13 years, 5 days | Three accomplices in the crime received lesser sentences. |
| Kazuhiro Matsumoto | Murdered three people in Japan and the Philippines for insurance fraud between 1994 and 1996. | 22 years, 337 days | His twin brother Akihiro was also sentenced to death, but died awaiting execution in 2016. |
| Eiichi Shimoura | Murdered three people in Japan and the Philippines for insurance fraud between 1994 and 1996. | 22 years, 337 days | |
| Kenji Matsumoto | Murdered two people during separate robberies in September 1990 and September 1991. | 31 years, 106 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, 130 days | |
| Futoshi Matsunaga | Defrauded, tortured and murdered seven to nine people between 1996 and 1998. | 19 years, 95 days | His accomplice, Junko Ogata, received a life sentence. |
| Nobuyuki Morimoto | Murdered two Filipina women. | 24 years, 306 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, 166 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, 97 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, 14 days | |
| Sumio Nakahara | Ordered the murders of two Taishu-kai members due to an internal dispute. | 21 years, 245 days | |
| Mitsuru Nakata [ja] | Police officer who murdered his wife and two children in Ogori in 2017. | 5 years, 19 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, 297 days | |
| Shōzō Nishiyama [ja] | Murdered an elderly woman in the mountains near Fukuyama to steal her credit cards. | 20 years, 253 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, 8 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, 15 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, 215 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, 73 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, 60 days | |
| Akihiro Okumoto [ja] | Murdered his wife, 5-month-old son and mother-in-law | 14 years, 55 days | |
| Osamu Okura | Murdered a colleague and his wife in separate incidents in 2004 and 2005. | 17 years, 330 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, 278 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, 254 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, 249 days | |
| Masayoshi Ozaki [ja] | Murdered two people in January 2002 to collect their life insurance. | 19 years, 230 days | |
| Tadashi Hara | Murdered two people in January 2002 to collect their life insurance. | 19 years, 230 days | |
| Tetsuya Sasaki [ja] | Murdered his parents because they disapproved of his relationship with a woman working at a brothel. | 40 years, 292 days | |
| Hiroshi Sakaguchi | Murdered two policemen and another person during a shootout with police in a holiday lodge below Mount Asama. | 42 years, 197 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. | 183 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, 219 days | |
| Takahiro Shiraishi | Murdered nine people, mostly suicidal young women he met through Twitter. | 4 years, 17 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, 296 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, 189 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, 293 days | |
| Suguru Takahashi | Gang leader who orchestrated the robbery and subsequent murders of two money lenders in 2001 and 2002. | 20 years, 282 days | |
| Sunao Takami [ja] | Set fire to the "Cross Niconico" pachinko parlor, killing five people. | 13 years, 276 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, 315 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, 290 days | |
| Atsuhiko Tanaka | Murdered two right-wing politicians in politically-motivated attacks between 1992 and 1994. | 24 years, 291 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, 201 days | |
| Kazuya Tsuchiya [ja] | Murdered three elderly people during robberies in November and December 2014. | 8 years, 165 days | |
| Yoshinori Ueda | Perpetrator of the "Osaka Dog Lover Murders", in which he fatally poisoned five people with suxamethonium. | 26 years, 289 days | |
| Satoshi Uematsu | Perpetrated a mass stabbing that led to the deaths of 19 disabled people. | 4 years, 291 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, 292 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, 338 days | Originally sentenced to life, commuted to death on appeal. |
| Taishi Shimizu [ja] | Murdered three accomplices in a ficticious billing fraud scheme | 17 years, 147 days | |
| Reo Ito | Murdered three accomplices in a ficticious billing fraud scheme | 17 years, 225 days | |
| Kiyoshi Watanabe | Murdered four prostitutes between 1967 and 1973. | 49 years, 125 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, 267 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, 14 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, 91 days | Chinese national. |
| Xue Song | Murdered a Chinese woman and her husband in Kasukabe when she rejected his romantic advances. | 22 years, 314 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, 91 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, 163 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, 201 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, 93 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. | 22 years, 349 days | Zohta claimed that the attack was carried out due to his disillusionment with Japanese society. |