America, India, China, Saudi Arabia and Iraq are often seen in the top five countries practicing death penalty every year. Nippon.com journalist Harada says, the tendendy for these countries to support death penalty has probably something to do with the population. If you take a look at other countries ranked from 6 to 20 there are countries like Pakstan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Japan and Vietnam. Altogether, the population of these countries account for 50% of the population in the world.
Although, Japan is a small country with no particular religion, it is still one of the countries that still practice death penalty.
As of 2014, the cabinet office did a survey on wether Japanese (3000 people) were for or against death penalty in Japan. While 9.7% were against, as mach as 80.3% agreed there should be death penalty. The reason for this result are:


Disagree with death penalty:
There is no turning back if the court make a mistake or if there is a misunderstanding in communication about the criminal (46.6%), Even if death penalty seem like a punishment it is inhuman to kill someone (31.5%), There is a possibility that the criminal will redeem and turn out to be better (28.7%)

Agree with death penalty:
If there is no death penalty the victim and his/her family will not be satisfied (53.4%), criminals should pay with their lives for terrible crimes (52.9%)
Also, 57.7% of the subject said they believe crime will increase in Japan if death penalty gets abolished.


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The government is not against the idea either. Considering what the people think of death penalty, Japan has not till this day signed the death penalty abolition protocol the United Nations General Assembly has adopted in 1989.

Still, death penalty is a heavy topic in Japan because it has a lot to do not only with ethic but also religion, philosophy and what is currently going on in the country. It is still a contradiction but as many other countries around the world were able to abolish death penalty perhaps Japan can discuss more about the topic and find a way out.