Japan poised to raise age of consent from 13 in overhaul of sexual offence laws

Japan is poised to raise the age of consent from 13 to 16 in an overhaul of legislation prompted by criticism that existing laws fail to protect children from rape and other sexual offences.

A justice ministry panel has proposed raising the age of consent from 13 – the lowest among all G7 countries – as part of a series of reforms to the penal code that will also make voyeurism a criminal offence and clarify the requirements for rape prosecutions.

The overhaul of Japan’s laws on sex crimes comes after several rape acquittals in 2019 caused public outcry, including a case in which a man repeatedly raped his teenage daughter.

A branch of the Nagoya district court acquitted the father and prompted anger when it said there was no definitive proof that the daughter had been unable to resist, even though it recognised that she had not consented. A higher court later overturned the decision and sentenced the man to 10 years in prison.

Japanese criminal law requires two conditions to be met to conclude that a sexual assault has been committed – sex must be non-consensual, and there must be proof that the victim was unable to physically resist.

Among the most controversial provisions in the existing law is a requirement that prosecutors prove that rape perpetrators used “violence and intimidation” to incapacitate their victims.

The justice ministry panel did not remove the wording in its recommendation, but clarified that the definition also covers intoxication, drugging, catching victims “off-guard” and the use of psychological control.

The clarification “isn’t meant to make it easier or harder” to secure rape convictions, but “will hopefully make court verdicts more consistent,” a ministry official said.

Human Rights Now welcomed the change as a step forward, but said it “still fails to meet international rape legislation standards”. Instead, Japan should “redefine the crime of rape as all non-consensual sexual intercourse”, the group said in a statement.

The age of consent is 16 in Britain and South Korea, 15 in France, and 14 in Germany and China. Japan’s age of consent has remained unchanged since 1907.

While regional laws ban “lewd” acts with people aged 18 or under, prosecutions resulting from violations of these local laws result in significantly lighter penalties.

The ministry’s recommendations have been submitted to the justice minister, Ken Saito, and are expected to be submitted to parliament in the coming months, the Kyodo news agency reported.

The panel also proposed a new offence covering the act of secretly filming someone for sexual purposes, and extending the statute of limitations for rape from 10 to 15 years to give survivors more time to come forward.

Agence France-Presse contributed reporting.