Japan’s Lower House OKs National Flag Vandalism Bill

Tokyo, June 30 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, passed a bill to criminalize the act of damaging the national flag by a majority vote on Tuesday. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, two of the four co-sponsors of the bill, voted in favor of the legislation. No opposition parties, including the other co-sponsors of the bill, the Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito, participated in the vote, in protest against the ruling coalition’s refusal to meet their demands related to Diet proceedings. Rough going is expected in deliberations on the bill at the House of Councillors, the upper Diet chamber, where the ruling bloc falls short of a majority. LDP member Takeshi Iwaya walked out of the Lower House meeting to abstain from the vote. “Respect for the national flag should not be enforced by punishment. I can’t positively support (the bill),” the former foreign minister told reporters. The Lower House put the bill to the vote only after three days of deliberations despite opposition concern that the legislation would excessively regulate freedom of thought and expression guaranteed by the Constitution. The bill stipulates that imprisonment of up to two years or a fine of up to 200,000 yen be imposed on acts that publicly damage a national flag in a way that causes the public to feel extremely uncomfortable or disgusted. During the Lower House deliberations, the LDP said the bill was designed to protect public sentiment, which values the national flag. In the face of criticism that acts such as burning the national flag have not happened frequently, the party said the bill was aimed at preventing such acts from occurring. The LDP and the JIP agreed to enact the bill during the current Diet session, set to end in July, as part of their deal to establish a coalition government in October. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]