Japan outlaws flag desecration despite critics

Japan enacted a law on Friday that criminalises damaging the national flag, as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi pushes forward with her conservative agenda despite worries over freedom of expression.

The law states that anyone who publicly damages, removes or defaces the national flag in a manner that causes significant discomfort or revulsion to others will face up to two years in prison or a fine of up to 200,000 yen ($1,200).

In a statement submitted to lawmakers last week, 148 legal experts said they had "strong concerns that it could curb freedom of political expression" and grave worries "from the viewpoint of criminal law".

The government argues that the law was needed because Japan already criminalised damaging foreign flags but had no equivalent rules covering its own.

Critics say that rules on foreign national flags were primarily aimed at preventing the desecration of foreign flags from becoming diplomatic issues, and there were similar concerns for Japan's standard.

A US Supreme Court decision has ruled that burning the US national flag is protected under the First Amendment, invalidating state laws against desecrating the Stars and Stripes.

At a news conference on July 9, Takaaki Matsumiya, law professor of Ritsumeikan University, said Japan "has a history of waging wars of aggression", and even among Japanese "there are some people who have a negative image" of the national flag.

And on Friday, opposition lawmaker Ayaka Shiomura expressed her opposition, saying: "The destruction of national flags has historically been one of the strongest forms of political expression used by people to resist state power and to condemn discrimination."

However, the bill passed the upper house to become a new law, with support from the ruling bloc and some opposition parties. 

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© Agence France-Presse