<p>Japan on Tuesday executed a man convicted of killing seven people in a stabbing rampage in Tokyo's popular Akihabara electronics district in 2008, local media reported.</p>.<p>The Justice Ministry declined to immediately confirm reports on national broadcaster NHK and other outlets that Tomohiro Kato had been executed over the attack, which began with him driving a truck into a crowd.</p>.<p>Kato went on the stabbing spree on June 8, 2008, telling police: "I came to Akihabara to kill people. It didn't matter who I'd kill."</p>.<p>He was arrested on the spot shortly after the attacks, in which he rammed a rented two-tonne truck into a crowd of pedestrians before getting out and randomly stabbing people.</p>.<p>Police said he 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.</p>.<p>The son of a banker, Kato grew up in Aomori prefecture in Japan's north, where he graduated from a top high school. He failed his university entrance exams and eventually trained as an auto mechanic, reports said.</p>.<p>Prosecutors said Kato's self-confidence had plummeted after a woman he had chatted with online abruptly stopped emailing him after he sent her a photograph of himself.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>While awaiting trial, Kato wrote to a 56-year-old taxi driver whom he injured in the stabbing spree, expressing his remorse.</p>.<p>The victims "were enjoying their lives, and they had dreams, bright futures, warm families, lovers, friends and colleagues," Kato wrote according to a copy published in the Shukan Asahi weekly.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>Kato's execution is the first in Japan this year and comes after three prisoners were hanged in December 2021.</p>.<p>Japan is one of the few developed countries to retain the death penalty, and public support for capital punishment remains high despite international criticism, especially from rights groups.</p>.<p>Executions are carried out by hanging, generally long after sentencing.</p>
<p>Japan on Tuesday executed a man convicted of killing seven people in a stabbing rampage in Tokyo's popular Akihabara electronics district in 2008, local media reported.</p>.<p>The Justice Ministry declined to immediately confirm reports on national broadcaster NHK and other outlets that Tomohiro Kato had been executed over the attack, which began with him driving a truck into a crowd.</p>.<p>Kato went on the stabbing spree on June 8, 2008, telling police: "I came to Akihabara to kill people. It didn't matter who I'd kill."</p>.<p>He was arrested on the spot shortly after the attacks, in which he rammed a rented two-tonne truck into a crowd of pedestrians before getting out and randomly stabbing people.</p>.<p>Police said he 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.</p>.<p>The son of a banker, Kato grew up in Aomori prefecture in Japan's north, where he graduated from a top high school. He failed his university entrance exams and eventually trained as an auto mechanic, reports said.</p>.<p>Prosecutors said Kato's self-confidence had plummeted after a woman he had chatted with online abruptly stopped emailing him after he sent her a photograph of himself.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>While awaiting trial, Kato wrote to a 56-year-old taxi driver whom he injured in the stabbing spree, expressing his remorse.</p>.<p>The victims "were enjoying their lives, and they had dreams, bright futures, warm families, lovers, friends and colleagues," Kato wrote according to a copy published in the Shukan Asahi weekly.</p>.<p>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.</p>.<p>Kato's execution is the first in Japan this year and comes after three prisoners were hanged in December 2021.</p>.<p>Japan is one of the few developed countries to retain the death penalty, and public support for capital punishment remains high despite international criticism, especially from rights groups.</p>.<p>Executions are carried out by hanging, generally long after sentencing.</p>