Actually, that's not exactly true. The japanese system relies heavily on confession, and without the presence of lawyers. They are sometimes denied food, toilet

Actually, that's not exactly true. The japanese system relies heavily on confession, and without the presence of lawyers. They are sometimes denied food, toilet usage, etc... for days. Several people sentenced to death following confession were acquited in the 80ies... Also, the way death row works in Japan is particularly horrible: as in the US, people may stay there decades before being killed, but they only know it the day they are killed, and their family is only notified after their death. I would also note that the incarceration rate is not ridiculously low - if you look at developed countries, the outlier are the US, not Japan. I suspect the French figure to be typical in western Europe, for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarceration