More than 81 percent of Japanese expressed support for the death penalty in a recent government survey, exceeding the 80 percent mark for the first time.
The rise appears to reflect deepening public alarm over a recent spate of serious crimes, including the kidnapping and murder of a girl in Nara.
The increase to 81.4 percent of respondents saying they support the death penalty was 2.1 percentage points higher than in the previous survey in November 1999, when the support figure was 79.3 percent.
Only 6.0 percent said the death penalty should be abolished, down 2.8 points from the 1999 poll.
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The number of people saying they favor the death penalty has been increasing since hitting a record low 56.9 percent in a 1975 survey.
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