Java Reflection: Why is it so slow?

I've always avoided Java reflection soley based on its reputation for slowness. I reached a point in the design of my current project where being able to use it would make my code much more readable and elegant, so I decided to give it a go.

I was simply astonished by the difference, I noticed at times almost 100x longer run times. Even in this simple example where it just instantiates an empty class, it's unbelievable.

class B {

}

public class Test {

    public static long timeDiff(long old) {
        return System.currentTimeMillis() - old;
    }

    public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception {

        long numTrials = (long) Math.pow(10, 7);

        long millis;

        millis = System.currentTimeMillis();

        for (int i=0; i<numTrials; i++) {
            new B();
        }
        System.out.println("Normal instaniation took: "
                 + timeDiff(millis) + "ms");

        millis = System.currentTimeMillis();

        Class<B> c = B.class;

        for (int i=0; i<numTrials; i++) {
            c.newInstance();
        }

        System.out.println("Reflecting instantiation took:" 
              + timeDiff(millis) + "ms");

    }
}

So really, my questions are

• Why is it this slow? Is there something I'm doing wrong? (even the example above demonstrates the difference). I have a hard time believing that it can really be 100x slower than normal instantiation.

• Is there something else that can be better used for treating code as Data (bear in mind I'm stuck with Java for now)