A Japanese Justice Ministry panel on Friday proposed raising the age of consent in the country, which is currently the lowest in the world at just 13 years, as part of a major overhaul of sex crime laws.
The move to raise the age of consent to 16 is part of a reform package that will also clarify the requirements for the prosecution of rape and criminalize voyeurism.
The recommendation given to the justice minister comes after several rape acquittals that have sparked protests, and will form the basis for draft amendments that could be passed by parliament later this year.
Japan age of consent
Japan’s age of consent, the lowest among the G7 industrialized nations, has not changed since it was enacted in 1907.
The age of consent is 16 in England and South Korea, 15 in France, and 14 in Germany and China.
Under current Japanese law, children at least 13 years old are considered to be able to give consent, meaning that sexual activity with them is not considered statutory rape.
This means that even teenage rape survivors face the same high bar for prosecuting adult perpetrators.
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In practice, regional ordinances prohibiting “fornication” with minors are sometimes seen as effectively raising the age of consent to 18 in many areas of Japan.
But the sentence is lighter than the accusation of rape and considers sex with children only an “unethical” act, “by reducing the forced nature”, Kazuna Kanajiri, an activist against pornography and sexual exploitation, told AFP.
This leaves room for the perpetrators to “shift the blame onto the victims, and deny that the sex was initiated or enjoyed by children”, said Kanajiri, who heads the Tokyo-based group PAPS and welcomed the plan to raise the age of consent to 16.
– ‘Violence and intimidation’ –
A teenage partner whose age is not more than five years will be exempt from prosecution if the partner is over 13 years old.
Japan finally reformed its criminal code on sexual offenses in 2017, for the first time in more than a century, but campaigners say the reforms are not enough.
And in 2019, a series of acquittals in rape cases sparked nationwide rallies.
Among the most controversial provisions of the existing law is the requirement that prosecutors prove the rapist used “violence and intimidation” to harm the victim.
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Critics say the requirement effectively blames victims for not resisting enough, and says survivors can freeze during an attack or submit to avoid harm.
The Ministry of Justice panel did not remove the word but clarified that it includes drugs, arresting the victim and psychological control.
The clarification “is not intended to make it easier or harder” to secure rape convictions, but “hopefully will make court rulings more consistent”, said Justice Ministry official Yusuke Asanuma.
Campaigners welcomed the move as a step forward although it “still fails to meet the standards of international rape laws”, advocacy group Human Rights Now said in a statement.
Japan, he added, should redefine “the crime of rape as all sexual relations without consent”.
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The panel also proposed a new offense covering secretly filming people for sexual purposes, and extending the statute of limitations for sexual abuse of minors, to allow more time to come forward.