Japan's sex crime laws will be significantly transformed from mid-July, as parliament passed a law Friday raising the age of sexual consent and expanding the definition of nonconsensual sex as part of Penal Code reform.

Proposed by the Justice Ministry in February in response to public outrage over a series of rape acquittals, the legislative overhaul aims to align Japan's laws with international standards and bring the country in line with other Group of Seven nations such as the U.K. and Canada.

What are the key provisions of the law?

As a part of Penal Code reform, the new law raises the age of consent to 16.

The legislation also criminalizes nonconsensual sexual intercourse where physical coercion or violence is absent, taking into consideration various factors affecting the victim's ability to consent, such as a power imbalance, that were previously deemed as being difficult to prove.

Use of violence, intimidation, alcohol, drugs, or economic or social status are among the factors that will be considered when determining whether an act is consensual. Cases in which a victim has a mental or physical disorder can also be deemed nonconsensual.

New crimes will also be established to punish the act of secretly photographing or filming a person’s sexual anatomy, as well as providing such photos or videos to a third person, with perpetrators of either subject to imprisonment of up to three years or needing to pay at least ¥3 million ($21,170) in damages.

Those who distribute such photos or videos to a large number of unspecified people will have to serve a prison sentence of up to five years or face a maximum fine of ¥5 million.

Currently, discreetly taking exploitative pictures is prosecuted according to prefectural laws, which vary across the nation. In Tokyo, such voyeurs are subject to less than one year of imprisonment or a fine of no more than ¥1 million.

According to the National Police Agency, the number of cases of discreetly taken voyeuristic photos in 2022 was 5,737, more than three times the figure in 2010. While the rise can be attributed to the spread of smartphones, cases nonetheless increased every year, with 5,019 cases reported in 2021.

A survey released by an aviation trade union in March also found that 7 in 10 flight attendants had reported their photos being secretly taken.

How do the revisions differ from the current law?

In 2017, the law related to sex crimes was revised for the first time since 1907, imposing longer sentences on rapists and recognizing male victims, in addition to categorizing forced oral and anal sex as crimes as well.

However, the amendments only recognized nonconsensual sex as a crime if there was an act of violence or intimidation. The absence of violence on the part of the perpetrator was seen as indicating that the victim didn’t resist, therefore making the sex consensual.

The age of sexual consent also remained at 13 years old, which many deemed inappropriate. In addition, photo voyeurism was not designated a crime.

How does the bill address cases involving individuals age 13 to 15?

While the bill criminalizes sexual intercourse with children under the age of 16, it allows an exception for consensual relationships involving an individual between the ages of 13 and 15.

In such cases, there will only be a punishment if the age difference between the individuals is five years or more.

Will there be changes to the statute of limitations for sexual offenses?

The law raises the statute of limitations for nonconsensual intercourse from 10 to 15 years. Similarly, the statute of limitations for sexual assault resulting in injury or death will be extended from 15 to 20 years.

If a victim was under 18 years old at the time of the assault, the statute of limitations will only commence when the victim reaches the legal age of adulthood in Japan, which is 18.

In January, following the government’s review on the statue of limitations, Spring, a nonprofit organization that campaigns for revisions to sex crime laws in support of sexual violence victims, said that a five-year extension was too short.

What were the driving forces behind this legislative change?

In Japan, about 95% of victims never report their sexual assault to the police, and almost 60% never tell anyone about it, according to a 2020 government survey. Among the female respondents, nearly 50% cited feeling “too embarrassed,” and about 30% believed that they could manage by simply enduring the consequences, which led them to refrain from seeking help. These findings shed light on the prevailing stigma around sexual violence in the country.

After a series of not guilty verdicts in rape cases caused public outrage in 2019, the government proposed revising the Penal Code.

One notable case that received immense public scrutiny was a verdict by the Nagoya District Court’s Okazaki branch, which acquitted a father accused of raping his 19-year-old daughter in 2017. The court concluded that the power imbalance between the two was hard to prove and that the daughter could have refused, making the act consensual. However, the Nagoya High Court overturned the ruling in 2020 and sentenced the father to 10 years in prison as initially requested.

The government plans to review and update the Penal Code changes five years after they are enacted, ensuring that they reflect the current circumstances, as is outlined within the amendments themselves.

Nationwide counseling support for sexual crimes and violence is available at #8891.