A group of nearly 150 Japanese academics said Thursday they had petitioned lawmakers over a bill that criminalizes the act of damaging the national flag, arguing it threatens the right to freedom of expression.<\/p>\n
The bill, a key part of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi\u2019s conservative agenda, 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 \u00a5200,000 ($1,200).<\/p>\n
It cleared the Lower House last week, where the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) holds a majority, and could pass through the Upper House later this month.<\/p>\n
But in a statement submitted to lawmakers, 148 legal experts said they had \u201cstrong concerns that it could curb freedom of political expression\u201d and grave worries \u201cfrom the viewpoint of criminal law.\u201d<\/p>\n
At a news conference on Thursday, Takaaki Matsumiya, law professor of Ritsumeikan University, said that \u201cJapan has a history of waging wars of aggression, and even among the Japanese there are some people who have a negative image\u201d of the national flag.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ideas of those people should be respected in the process of legislation,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n
Unlike the flags of nations such as Germany, Italy and France, which \u201csymbolize the values of freedom and democracy,\u201d the Japanese flag \u201cdoesn\u2019t symbolize such values,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Following its World War II defeat in 1945, Japan established a U.S.-imposed, pacifist Constitution, but its national flag remains unchanged.<\/p>\n
Matsumiya argued that the bill could also be used \u201cas a tool of hate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, if people joining anti-foreigner rallies hold a national flag, and if that flag is damaged by those who protest against xenophobia, protesters could be arrested by police,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The statement urged caution over \u201cpunishing someone for causing discomfort, because it means it is possible to create various \u2019crimes of hurting feelings.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis kind of law that is open to abuse should never be enacted,\u201d the academics said.<\/p>\n
The ruling bloc is in a minority in the Upper House, but the flag bill is supported by several other parties in addition to the LDP.<\/p>\n
But the legislation also faces significant pushback among opposition parties who say it violates a constitutional right to freedom of expression.<\/p>\n
The Centrist Reform Alliance, an opposition party that holds 48 seats in the lower house, has questioned the legal rationale behind the criminalization of damaging the flag and has urged more careful discussions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A group of nearly 150 Japanese academics said Thursday they had petitioned lawmakers over a bill that criminalizes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55713,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2894,234,8,358],"class_list":["post-55712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-japan","tag-constitution","tag-diet","tag-japan","tag-sanae-takaichi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}