Japan’s parliament has recently passed new legislation that redefines nonconsensual sex as rape and raises the age of sexual consent from 13 to 16, marking a significant overhaul of the country’s century-old sex crime laws. This development comes as the government aims to tackle issues such as rape culture and victim humiliation. The amended laws establish eight acts that constitute a victim’s lack of sexual consent, including cases where the victim is intoxicated or intimidated by the perpetrator. Additionally, the legislation criminalizes the filming and distribution of exploitative images without consent and extends the statute of limitations for reporting rape from 10 to 15 years. However, there is an exception for adolescents who engage in consensual intercourse with partners less than five years older than them.
This is the first change in Japan’s age of sexual consent since 1907 when the lowest legal age was established. Notably, a previous amendment in 2017 only introduced harsher penalties for sex crimes but narrowly defined rape as “forcible sexual intercourse.”
Human Rights Watch has highlighted the fact that many rape victims in Japan are reluctant to come forward due to humiliation, as reflected in a 2021 government survey indicating that only about six percent of men and women who had been assaulted reported the incidents to the police. Survivors have also described instances where the police humiliated and re-victimized them during testimonies, often trying to convince them to drop their cases.
A 2017 report by the government’s gender equality bureau revealed that nearly 60 percent of rape victims kept their experiences to themselves. In response to court acquittals of alleged rapists and the need for legal reform, sexual abuse victims and their supporters staged protests across Japan in June 2019 under slogans such as #MeToo and #WithYou.
In addition to addressing sexual assault laws, Japan’s parliament also passed a new law to promote understanding of LGBTQ communities in the country. However, activists argue that the law does not provide any concrete human rights protections. Japan, as the only Group of Seven (G7) nation without legal protection for same-sex unions, has faced pressure from other G7 countries, particularly the United States, to legalize same-sex marriage.
It is worth noting that some members of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party went against party directives and boycotted or walked out of the vote, expressing concern over the normalization of certain practices and potential issues regarding public safety.
While both legislations mark significant progress for Japan, critics argue that further reforms and concrete protections are necessary to ensure the safety and rights of all individuals.