‘Black Widow’ case shows Japan’s support for death penalty is alive and kicking

Chisako Kakehi, who killed at least two lovers and a husband with cyanide to get their money, has lost an appeal against her death sentence – and that seems to suit most of Japan’s social media users just fine

Despite criticism from rights groups and foreign governments, polls suggest 80 per cent of Japanese support capital punishment

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Japanese woman Chisako Kakehi, who has been dubbed Japan’s ‘Black Widow’ for poisoning her husband and lovers with cyanide. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:00am, 1 Jul 2021Updated: 8:49pm, 1 Jul 2021

Japan’s Supreme Court has confirmed the death sentence for a 74-year-old woman found guilty of killing two lovers and a husband for their money, with Chisako Kakehi joining just over 100 other people on death row.

No date has been set for Kakehi’s execution and she will only be informed that her sentence is being carried out on the morning of her execution.

Only 54 countries retain the death penalty, although no executions were carried out in Japan in 2020 or so far in 2021. While the issue of sentencing criminals to death is controversial elsewhere, it is broadly accepted in Japan. Kakehi’s case is no exception, with a majority of the nation’s social media users apparently supportive of the court’s decision.

Such is the demand that Kakehi be hanged that some posters claiming to be opposed to the death penalty have even expressed their support for the ruling. The case has attracted widespread media and public attention, leading to Kakehi being dubbed the “black widow”.

The court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by lawyers representing Kakehi against the death sentence passed by two lower courts, most recently in 2017, for killing her husband and two common-law partners with poison in 2012 and 2013.

She was also suspected of attempting to kill a fourth partner, while prosecutors declined to investigate the deaths of three previous husbands that were not at the time considered suspicious.