The Diet passed into law Friday a bill to combat domestic violence that will allow courts to impose restraining orders to keep perpetrators away from their victims.
The bill, proposed by a suprapartisan group of lawmakers in the House of Councilors and submitted to the House of Representatives on Monday, cleared the Diet after five days of unusually swift deliberations. The law will be put into force in October.
The legislation comes amid growing public awareness of the problem of domestic violence, which in the past was often not addressed because it was deemed a family affair between husband and wife.