Japanese may not be as enthusiastic about death row inmates being sent to the gallows as previously believed.
A recent study by researchers shows public support for the death penalty in Japan is not deeply entrenched, despite a government survey indicating more than 80 percent accept the practice.
While Japan has cited the outcome of the survey to support its continuation of capital punishment amid a global trend to abolish it, Mai Sato, a lecturer of the University of Reading in Britain, said, "The majority of the public is in favor of the death penalty if asked in general, but how strongly or how unconditionally they want to retain it is a different matter.