Japan Likely to Enact Bill to Criminalize National Flag Vandalism

Tokyo, June 16 (Jiji Press)–The Diet, Japan’s parliament, is highly likely to enact legislation that would criminalize vandalism of the national flag during its current session set to end next month, after two opposition parties backed the bill. The Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito, both opposition parties, joined the ruling coalition in submitting the bill to the House of Representatives, the lower Diet chamber, on Tuesday. The opposition parties’ backing paves the way for the bill’s passage through the House of Councillors, the upper Diet chamber, where the ruling bloc is a minority force. The Lower House is controlled by the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party. Diet deliberations on the bill are expected to center on deep-rooted concerns that the legislation violates the constitutionally protected freedom of belief and expression. The bill calls for a prison sentence of up to two years or a fine of up to 200,000 yen for publicly damaging the national flag “in a way that causes people to feel extremely uncomfortable or disgusted.” Whether acts fall under the scope of punishable offenses will be determined objectively, without regard for intent and purpose. The act of posting videos of damaging the national flag on social media was excluded from the scope of punishable acts following negotiations between the LDP and the DPFP. Livestreams of flag-damaging will remain subject to penalties. Punishable acts “will be limited from the viewpoint of freedom of expression,” DPFP leader Yuichiro Tamaki said, adding, “The brakes will be applied.” The bill includes a supplementary provision calling for consideration, three years after its enforcement, of whether to make punishable the display of already damaged national flags, such as flags with a cross drawn on them. The provision was included at the request of Sanseito. “While we have slightly different (views), it is meaningful that many parties are submitting (a bill) criminalizing vandalism of the national flag,” Sanseito chief Sohei Kamiya told reporters. The LDP and the JIP agreed in their coalition deal to enact the bill during the ongoing Diet session, which will end July 17. They initially considered revising the Criminal Code as an option, but opted to advance the legislation as a lawmaker-submitted bill to prioritize swift enactment. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]