Children in Japan reach sexual consent at the age of 13. Consensual sex with them is not considered rape after this age. The legislation is now set to be changed as part of a package of reforms to improve rape prosecution.
Sex with children and young people under the age of 16 is to be banned in Japan. A panel of the Japanese Ministry of Justice proposed raising the minimum age for consenting to sexual activity from 13 to 16. In Germany it is 14 years.
Under current law, children in Japan are considered to be of sexual consent from the age of 13, so having sex with them is not considered rape. It is true that in many parts of Japan there are regional ordinances prohibiting “lewd” acts involving minors under the age of 18. However, they provide for significantly milder penalties than for rape.
According to the proposal, sexual acts between two teenagers should not be punished if both are at least 13 years old and the age difference is not greater than five years.
The proposed increase in the so-called age of consent is part of a larger reform package. Among other things, it is planned to improve the criminal prosecution of rape and to criminalize voyeurism. A series of acquittals in rape trials had recently caused outrage in Japan.
At 13, the previous age of consent in Japan is the lowest among the G7 countries and has not changed since it was introduced in 1907. Japan reformed its sex crimes law back in 2017, but critics said the changes didn’t go far enough at the time.
