The Diet on Wednesday enacted a law to freeze financial and real estate transactions in Japan by organizations and individuals involved in terrorism, including al-Qaida and the Islamic State group.
The passage of the law on special anti-terrorism measures at the House of Councilors is seen as a gesture of solidarity with the international community in the fight against terrorism.
A total of 90 groups and 373 individuals designated as of Tuesday by the U.N. Security Council Sanctions Committees, based on U.N. resolutions, will be subject to the law.
No domestic groups or individuals have yet been targeted for asset freezes.
The law will impose a maximum one-year prison sentence or a fine of up to ¥500,000 on people who make repeated transactions with a terrorist group or an individual linked to terrorist activities.
The government had been urged by the Financial Actions Task Force — an intergovernmental body aimed at eliminating terrorist financing — to block the transfer of funds used to sponsor terrorism.
Last Friday, the Diet passed a separate amendment to a law on terrorism funding that makes harboring terrorists or supplying them with weapons punishable by up to 10 years in prison or a maximum fine of ¥10 million.