Japan’s age of consent was raised from 13, among the world’s lowest, to 16 years old on Friday as lawmakers passed key reforms to sex crime legislation.
The reforms, which also clarify rape
prosecution requirements and criminalise voyeurism, cleared parliament’s upper
house in a unanimous vote.Campaigners welcomed the reforms, with the
Tokyo-based group Human Rights Now calling them “a big step forward.”
The lifting of the age of consent in
particular will “send a message to society that sexual violence by adults
against children is unacceptable”, the group said in a statement.
The age of consent — below which sexual
activity is considered statutory rape — is 16 in Britain, 15 in France, and 14
in Germany and China.
Japan’s had been unchanged since 1907, with
children aged 13 and above deemed capable of consent.
In practice however, across many parts of the
country regional ordinances banning “lewd” acts with minors were sometimes seen
as effectively raising the age of consent to 18.
Under the new law, teen couples no more than
five years apart in age will be exempt from prosecution if both partners are
over 13.
Japan last revised its criminal code on
sexual offences in 2017, for the first time in more than a century, but
campaigners said the reforms were insufficient.
And in 2019, a string of acquittals in rape
cases triggered nationwide rallies.
Under the previous law, prosecutors had to
prove victims were incapacitated due to violence and intimidation.
Critics argued that requirement effectively
blamed victims for not resisting enough.
The bill that passed Friday contains a list
of examples under which rape prosecutions can be made.
These include victims being under the
influence of alcohol or drugs, being frightened and perpetrators taking
advantage of social status.
A justice ministry official told AFP earlier
this year that the clarifications were not “meant to make it easier or harder”
to secure rape convictions, but “will hopefully make court verdicts more
consistent”.
The bill also contains a new “visitation
request offence”, according to the justice ministry.
It means that people who use intimidation,
seduction or money to coerce children under 16 to meet for sexual purposes will
face a prison sentence of up to a year or a fine of 500,000 yen ($3,500).
The reforms also include language that for
the first time criminalises voyeurism, which had only been regulated by
regional ordinances before.
A penalty of up to three years’ imprisonment
or a fine of up to three million yen will be imposed for secretly filming
private body parts, underwear or indecent acts without a justifiable reason.
Tokyo resident Sohei Ikeda, 39, welcomed the
reforms but said he felt “Japan is quite late”.
But Natsuki Sunaga, a 22-year-old student,
said she was skeptical that the reforms would stop people secretly filming
others.
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