Criminalizing Damaging Japan Flag Emerges as Diet Debate Focus

Tokyo, Feb. 23 (Jiji Press)--After the Japanese ruling Liberal Democratic Party's landslide victory in the recent general election, legislation criminalizing the damaging of the Japanese national flag is expected to become a key focus of deliberations in the newly convened special session of the Diet, the country's parliament.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi expressed a strong desire to enact this legislation, with an opposition party also supporting it. However, there are lingering concerns that such a measure could restrict freedom of expression, thought and conscience.

"If you deface or tear a foreign flag, you may face a prison term. But you can treat the Japanese flag however you like. That's strange," Takaichi said during a street speech in Tokyo on Jan. 27, the first day of the official campaign period for the Feb. 8 election of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet.

Article 92 of the Penal Code states that a person who damages a foreign flag with the intent to insult may be sentenced to up to two years in prison or face a fine of up to 200,000 yen. However, there is no provision regarding the Japanese flag.

"Any national flag should be respected equally," Takaichi said. In 2012, she spearheaded the submission to the Diet of a bill calling for including the Japanese flag in the scope of the legislation. But the bill was scrapped.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]