I think a simpler question or observation about Perl is in order. It is a much more complicated language than Java. It may in fact be more powerful, but it also much more difficult to understand. E.g., take the local() function in Perl. Or the "Gory details of parsing quoted constructs" in the perlop manpage. It may take more lines of core language to do things in Java, but it doesn't take as much education (or line-noise-looking syntax) to do it.

It is also safe to say that the strength of Java lies mainly in its libraries, whereas considerably more strength is available in the much larger and context-sensitive Perl core language. You can learn all there is about the core Java language in a much shorter period of time than Perl. Learning Perl is closer to learning English: I may be native, but I didn't know what solipism was until a moment ago.

Finally, I will never forget what one prospective employer said to me: "It is much harder to find a good Perl programmer than a good Java programmer."