Mitsuhiro Kobayashi, the man who burned five Takefuji employees to death in a failed robbery in 2001, was hanged in Sendai on Friday, while a former yakuza convicted of shooting three people to death from 2001 to 2005 was executed in Tokyo.
The executions were the 10th and 11th signed by Justice Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki since he took the post in December 2012.
Kobayashi, 56, killed the five employees after walking into the Aomori branch of the nonbank consumer lender with the intention of robbing it to pay off his debts. Upon learning the staff had called the police, he poured gasoline around the office and set it ablaze, keenly aware it would kill some of them, the Justice Ministry said in a statement released Friday. Four others were severely injured by the blaze.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.