It has long been common to see claims that Japan's age of consent was just 13, which would lead to lazy generalizations that this was why there was so much loli porn.
Of course, in practice, this was never true: local ordinances against lewd actors with minors meant the actual age of consent was typically 18 and on par with (if not higher than) most other countries in the Global North.
It was true, though, that the national age of consent was 13, unchanged since 1907. (For context, age of consent is 14 in Germany, Italy, and China, and 15 in France.)
This has now changed after lawmakers ...
The national age of consent in Japan is 13 -- an age that many find surprisingly low.
Japan is mulling raising the age of consent, according to media reports. A justice ministry panel last Friday proposed a major overhaul of sex crime legislation that would include raising the age to 16, along with clarifying rape prosecution requirements and criminalizing voyeurism (strangely, it's currently not illegal to secretly film someone for sexual purposes).
This is not a new discussion. There are regular calls to raise the age of consent in Japan, which has not changed since 1907. In 2019, a ...
The exact nature of the age of consent in Japan is something that crops up conversations about the country, and people often seem unsure of the facts.
As the Asahi clarifies, "anyone having sex with a minor under 13 can be arrested for statutory rape under the Criminal Law, but charging someone with sex crimes for having intercourse with a person over the age of 13 requires proof of violent action or threats."
Japan's law on consent is over a century old, though a revision in 2017, in an effort to protect vulnerable minors, made it a crime for guardians to have sex with a child under 18 ...
