

This is the reality but the law is there for a reason – to protect the vulnerable and less experienced. So is it right to see young people hauled before the courts, convicted and put on a sex offenders register alongside adult rapists and paedophiles? That is despite half of all UK teenagers having their first sexual experience by the age of 14, according to the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles. But if you have sex with someone under 16, you become a sex offender. In effect, it does not matter what your age is. The sentence increases to ten years to life if the offender is over 18 at the time of the offence. But, ordinarily, a “sex offender” is likely to be imprisoned for around five years if someone was under 18 at the time. In some cases, it may be a defence to say that it was reasonable that there was a belief that the person was 16 or over. This makes the culture of Japan quite different from the western world and interesting why society still accepts this sort of behaviour from what many would consider a very civilized country and society.In the UK, under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, it is illegal to engage in sexual activity with someone under the age of 16. It’s also crucial to support victims and to create a culture where these crimes are not tolerated. It’s important to recognize that there are laws and resources in place to protect victims and to report any incidents of sexual harassment or assault. It’s crucial to raise awareness about these issues and to work towards creating a safer and more equal society for all individuals. It’s important to note that sexual harassment and assault are not limited to any one group or demographic, and can happen to anyone regardless of age, gender, or background. There are various reasons that contribute to the problem of sexual harassment and assault in Japan, including a lack of education and awareness about consent, societal pressure to conform to traditional gender roles, and a lack of effective laws and enforcement to protect victims and prosecute perpetrators. However, it’s hard to provide specific numbers about the situation of young Japanese women without recent updated statistics since my knowledge cutoff is 2021 and it’s not possible for me to know the current situation. Sexual harassment and assault are serious issues in Japan, as in many other countries. There have been reports of young Japanese women being sexually harassed and assaulted, including molestation, in Japan.

In summary, the age of consent in Japan is so unclear that even this simplified table raises a lot of issues: Image from Helpto.pro Teenagers between the ages of 13 and 14 may, nevertheless, consent to one another. The mandatory minimum punishment for having intercourse with a female under 13 is five years. No one older than 14 is allowed to have intercourse with a 13- to 14-year-old under the Juvenile Obscene Acts, which were introduced in 1947. Now that I’ve taken a brief 101 in Japanese law, it’s clearer than ever that the country’s age of consent has been purposefully left vague.

In the Philippines, the legal age of consent was once 12, but after much protest, a proposal to raise it to 16 was approved last year. In fact, it’s the third-lowest in the world. Since then, Japan’s age of consent has not changed.
#LEGAL AGE OF CONSENT CODE#
In 1907, the Penal Code of Japan set a minimum age of consent of 13. Critics argue that Japan’s low age of consent puts young people at risk of sexual abuse and exploitation, and that it sends the wrong message about the seriousness of sexual relationships. However, it’s worth mentioning that there have been calls in recent years to raise the age of consent in Japan, as many people believe that 13 is too young for someone to make informed decisions about sexual activity. There are some reasons why it has been not modified since then, one of them is that changing the age of consent would require a significant overhaul of Japan’s legal system, which many politicians and legal experts believe is unnecessary.Īdditionally, some argue that raising the age of consent could lead to more young people engaging in sexual activity outside of the legal system, which could put them at even greater risk. This code sets the age of consent for sexual activity at 13 for girls and 14 for boys, and it has remained unchanged since then. He age of consent in Japan is 13 years old because it is based on the Napoleonic Code, which was introduced to Japan in the late 19th century.
