ModPerl, Catalyst, Class::DBI, DBD::Oracle, Apache, Template Toolkit and a Session Plugin for Catalyst.

For the number-driven monks, Java is answering (on the same machine, while Apache/Perl is not running, and vice-versa for Apache/Perl benchmarking) at 100 queries per minute ratio. With Perl, I don't even hit 27 queries per minute.

Are you actually using mod_perl, or are you running the perl scripts via CGI? Are you pre-loading the modules? How much "ramp-up" time do you allow (mod_perl and java servlets need some time to get up to their maximum speed).

Also: are you using a similar setup in java vs perl. Example questions about the java code: do you use an object-relational mapping system similar to Class::DBI, or are you just pumping out straight JDBC queries? Are you using a complex templating system or pure java servlets? Are you using serialisable sessions? update: do you re-use database connections between requests in both instances (oracle is terribly slow if you don't)