Japan OKs bill to reform sexual offense charge, raise age of consent

Japan's cabinet approved a bill Tuesday to recognize a sexual violation even in the absence of physical violence or coercion and raise the age of sexual consent from 13 to 16, as part of reforms to the country's Penal Code.

Because canging the number to still 16 which still high school age, that will make huge difference. At least using Japanese way of thinking.

Sometimes is better to move far and do not give away your address.

Only half a century behind the rest of the modern world.

So 21 and 15 is not ok, but 66 and 16 is ok, right? What a strange ruling.

Only half a century behind the rest of the modern world.

These sorts of comments are deeply ethnocentric and nationalistic. The modern (by which one usually means Western) world is not the standard bearer of all that is just and good. Not everything the West does represents progress. Say Japan is out of step with the Western world if you want. But if you believe all values that differ a little from your own are wrong or backward, maybe you should avoid travel.

Any improvement in this law is a step forward.

I think a lot of Americans, for example, would be surprised by what is permitted under their own laws. In many states, the age of consent can be overridden simply by marrying the child partner. Yes, child marriage is legal in most states. New York State just banned child marriages in 2021.

So, yes, changes in the law can be a step forward if they are thought out. (We don't want to arrest a 17-year-old on his birthday for having a girlfriend who is still 16, for example.)

Way overdue but a step in the right direction, finally.

the other provisions are a nice step too. Reading the various news stories definitely seems to be lenient sadly with people getting away with nonsense technicalities.

still work to do, but it’s a step. Let’s get that offender registration going and modernized practices for dealing with sexual assault while we’re at it. Having women reinact their assaults with mannequins on them in front of a dozen male officers taking pictures is a bit wild

I remember a lecture at Uni where we were told that the US Navy (at that time) still had on its books a rule from at least 200 years ago that a sailor could marry a female of age 14. I think they told us this story as a way to show us that customs change.

I remember when a young man I knew was approached about marrying the 14 year old daughter of a couple who had moved here from Louisiana. So, different areas of the country, and the world, have different customs.

Slow but moving in the right direction.

Oh groan, another case of Japan getting railroaded by the prudish West into shafting the rights of minors (the power to give a consent that won't be questioned, much less automatically invalidated, is a right by itself).

I'd really like to see what name they'd give the new crime of "upskirting".

These sorts of comments are deeply ethnocentric and nationalistic. The modern (by which one usually means Western) world is not the standard bearer of all that is just and good. Not everything the West does represents progress. Say Japan is out of step with the Western world if you want. But if you believe all values that differ a little from your own are wrong or backward, maybe you should avoid travel.

Might be the worst comment I've seen on here ever. Defending something that is indefensible. If you think a 13 year old is mature enough to consent to an adult relationship you're just delusional. The only argument that could potentially be made in history is arranged marriages and those were signed off by the father. But still I think society as a whole made progress to move away from that norm. The reason the modern refers to the west is because it in almost every industry is the best. The more I reread the second half of your comment the more it seems like this law is triggering you. Anyway carry on defending Japans honor when no one will respect you for it. @comanteer

Might be the worst comment I've seen on here ever.

Perhaps because you didn't comprehend it. My criticism was directed at the comment saying "Japan is 50 years behind the West." It was not directed at the issue of age of consent. Example: if someone says all of x-gender and x-race molest children and I object, that's not to defend molestation, but to challenge a gross generalization about x-gender/race. Get it?

These sorts of comments are deeply ethnocentric and nationalistic. The modern (by which one usually means Western) world is not the standard bearer of all that is just and good. Not everything the West does represents progress. Say Japan is out of step with the Western world if you want. But if you believe all values that differ a little from your own are wrong or backward, maybe you should avoid travel. - commanteer

Japan only outlawed the ownership of child pornography in 2014. If you want to defend that as an "ethnocentric cultural difference" then that's fine. I'm pretty open minded and like travel which is a large part of why I live outside my own country but sometimes there are cases of moral objectivism that you should stand up for regardless of if it is your own culture or country or anothers.

It can only work if the law is functional. I have a friend working at hospital addiction department, she said a man admitting intercourse with a 7yo girl was not sentenced because they brought the child to court and child didn’t say anything. But the man was insisting he had done intercourse and it was consensual. He was only put in hospital for alcohol addiction treatment.

when someone admitting it, you don’t need to bring the child to court. Just lock the psycho up in a cell.

Since most of us live in Japan (I'm guessing) wouldn't you know the real age of consent isn't 13? there are local laws overriding this so there is no place in Japan where the age of consent is actually 13, Mostly it's 18.

Also lets stop putting the "west" into one big pool on morals. From what I can see Malta is the only place in Europe where the age of consent is 18 the rest is from 14 - 17 so most of what we call the west has lower age of consent than Japan even before this change, because it's not actually 13.

16 !!??

Why not 18??

We don't want to arrest a 17-year-old on his birthday for having a girlfriend who is still 16, for example.

In Asian cultures, having a boyfriend or girlfriend doesn’t mean they are having sex.

Japan only outlawed the ownership of child pornography in 2014. If you want to defend that as an "ethnocentric cultural difference" then that's fine.

Again, my point was against gross generalizations. I am glad they banned child pornography. However, because they did that later than (for example) the US does not make Japan backwards.

If you want to look at culture, look at the whole culture - not just the laws on the books. Consider the rates of teenage pregnancy and teenage alcoholism and drug abuse, as well as child abuse and underage sex in the US. Look at the whole picture. Japan is a safer place to raise children. That's not saying it's perfect - no place is perfect. But this "behind the West" business is ethnocentric chest puffing with little to support it.

Drug use and teenage pregnancy have little to nothing to do with overall safety. ...drug abuse as you say but that affects a tiny proportion of the population anyway.

Drug abuse has a lot to do with safety, not a little. And teenage pregnancy, aside from having a massive impact on the girl's future, is indicative of larger cultural problems. Drug abuse is not at all a tiny portion of the population. If you include alcohol and the over-prescription of drugs to children who don't behave the way they are expected you are talking about a massive influence. Spend some time with families in the US, Canada or the UK and see for yourself. I am very grateful that my kids didn't have to face the same challenges my friends'/family's kids in America have faced.