When they hear that Japan does have the death penalty, British people are very shocked because they think that Japan is a democratic, harmonious, sort of sympathetic and sophisticated society. And the death penalty sits very badly with that image.

It's possible that Japan is the most misunderstood country in the world, even by the locals, and the locals are generally proud that it is misunderstood too because that makes it unique and special.

Moonraker- agree 100%

The majority of the world's countries do not have the death penalty and time for Japan to join the club.

Possible errors in sentencing, evidence,procedure, failure to identify human failings or intention etc lead to the accused being murdered by the state?

No!

Not acceptable

Unlike her (and most of the commenters) I pay taxes here. Now, do please tell me, why should my money be spent keeping alive this person for example (from Wikipaedia). You can leave away all religious, non-logical arguments and I don't believe in Santa either:

"25-year-old Tomohiro Kato rammed a truck into a crowd of shoppers and proceeded to stab the run-down victims, killing six men and one woman and injuring 11 others. Kato was sentenced to death on 24 March 2011, and was hanged on 26 July 2022"

cancel of capital punishment is not a good idea.

Keeping a convict on death row is more expensive than life in prison which has been proven numerous times. Inmates on death row can spend many decades there before being executed.

This is a misleading comment.

When they hear that Japan does have the death penalty, British people are very shocked

That’s not true. I know plenty of Brits who are pro-death penalty. I am one of them.

….because they think that Japan is a democratic, harmonious, sort of sympathetic and sophisticated society.

Lots of Brits regard Japan as a democratic, harmonious, and sophisticated society. And?

The death penalty in Japan gets rid of people that murder children or who go on a killing spree. It’s like taking out the trash. I support it. But if it’s cut and clear cases, kill thrm quickly, don’t let them rot or go mad in solitary confinement. I don’t believe in torture.

There are many British who also believe the UK should have the death penalty, be beastly to refugees, go back to an imagined time of social and racial homogeneity and make people work hard. They usually vote Tory. And many would feel at home in Japan. They would be Republicans in the US. And, in fact, it seems some have found a refuge in Japan.

The cost argument is irrelevant. Nobody should have the right to take another's life, nobody. Period.

I agree entirely I was counting the claim of always "my taxes".

Supported the end of the death penalty for 50 years.

The majority of us Brits do not support the death penalty hence the comment by the ambassador.

Many people here are sensitive to any criticism of Japan, yet, anyone with any level of impartial, detailed knowledge and experience of Japan knows that on several measures, Japan is still very much a developing nation (e.g. women's empowerment and sexual discrimination, a fair judicial system, freedom of the press etc.) and the strong believe in a barbaric act such as capital punishment is one of them

well said!

Nobody should have the right to take another's life, nobody. Period.

Yeah, do elaborate though... "Periods"are for Karens... I, for one, care more about the victims' families. Unless you're in their situation you don't have the right to try and decide it for them. Luckily I'm not, but i don't know how I'd feel if I were. That's why I'm supporting it. Oh, and talking about rights, once someone goes and kills a number of fellow humans, they themselves have lost the right to be considered a human, at least in my eyes. How's that for an argument?

.. oh, and this embassador shows a very British trait in her position here - self entitlement and self righteousness - the urge to teach and impose their own ways on others. The "British People" plundered and killed for hundreds of years all over their empire, and that was OK. Now that they, themselves don't have the death penalty anyone thinking differently are seen as primitive, "still developing".

There are many American states without the death penalty. Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 states and in the federal capital, Washington, D.C. Other states no longer use the death penalty.

Speak for yourself and your fellow members of the global liberal elite, Julia Longbottom. Most British people, including me, want the death penalty back.

Unlike her (and most of the commenters) I pay taxes here. Now, do please tell me, why should my money be spent keeping alive this person for example (from Wikipaedia). You can leave away all religious, non-logical arguments

Murder is wrong.

Don't care who's doing it, for what reason, in whose name - it's wrong. And I'm not religious.

I do pay taxes here, and I don't want any part of my taxes spent on state-sanctioned murder.

And what nondualism said.

Anyone who does thei due diligence will come to realize that at the end of the day Japan remains very undemocratic in certain key aspects due to what occurred during the post war era, i.e. releasing war criminals and reinstating them to power (i.e. Abe's grandfather)...they killed millions during the war so had little compunction about keeping the death penalty.

Most British people, including me, want the death penalty back.

Not true.

Some of the lawyer groups have called for an end to capital punishment.

Most British people, including me, want the death penalty back.

Not true.

Below is from Wikipedia:

In April 2021 a poll found that 54% of Britons said they would support reinstating the death penalty for those convicted of terrorism in the UK. About a quarter (23%) of respondents said they would be opposed.

It seems public attitudes change, often as a consequence of a recent event - for example, the Ian Huntly case and the murder of two 10-year-old girls in 2002. It understandably received a lot of attention and provoked anger. Yet around the same time there was a murder of a teenage prostitute in Scotland, and it received very little attention. And then there were the IRA bombings (the Birmingham Six and the Guildford 4) which raised demands for the return of capital punishment. But later all the convictions were quashed.

We should be careful capital punishment is not used in response to public anger. Otherwise, it might become like the witch burning of the past.

Statement Strongly Protesting Today’s Executions and Calling for an Immediate Moratorium and the Abolition of the Death Penalty by 2020

https://www.nichibenren.or.jp/en/document/statements/180726.html

Be careful what you wish for. You (or your child) wouldn't want to be in the wrong place at the wrong time in a nation with the death penalty.

nondualism, I'm willing to take the risk.

The UK also still has the death penalty for treason. Rape and murder a bunch of children and get prison, but kill a royal and you could be facing the gallows.

No the majority of British people do not support state murder.

If you take a poll after a particularly heinous crime you get an emotional reaction not the rational one you would normally get.

How's that for an argument

Emotional, irrational and utterly lacking in any comprehension of the barbarity of what you propose, I feel sorry for you.

It's hard to believe you have managed to grow up in the UK and have such an outdated and barbaric view of the value of life and justice

I find it hard to understand as well but every society has its quota of morally deficient individuals, though whether that is the case here I don’t have sufficient evidence to say, I just hope it is just an emotional reaction without careful rational analysis.

Listen to the tut-tutting by leftist westerners who disrespect Asians so much they think they can patronize them like wayward children.

There are many British who also believe the UK should have the death penalty,

The majority, it seems.

be beastly to refugees,

Translation; many Britains see no point in admitting economic migrants who are overwhelmingly young men of fighting age

go back to an imagined time of social and racial homogeneity and make people work hard.

I would imagine conservative Britons would take a thousand Cubans fleeing Castro before they'd take a single Swedish socialist.

"make people work hard"

Kryptonite to a leftist.

@kipling

The UK also still has the death penalty for treason.

No it doesn't. It was abolished in 1998 after a very long time of not being used. the last person was in 1946. Good work, though, you got more up votes than down votes with that bit of misinformation.

https://www.studysmarter.us/explanations/history/modern-britain/capital-punishment-in-uk/

Polls show that 80-90% of Japanese support the death penalty.

If that is a contradiction to him, he doesn't know anything about Japan.

Sorry..., she, hughhhh.

Nah, Brits don't think that.