AI – Amnesty International (Author): “The State of the World's Human Rights; Japan 2023”, Document #2107937

Right to a healthy environment

Despite record-breaking summer temperatures and associated deaths, Japan remained the only wealthy industrialized country not to have committed to phasing out the use of coal in electricity production. Environmental experts remained critical of government plans, first announced in 2022, to blend ammonia with coal to reduce power sector carbon emissions, as being largely ineffective as well as dangerous for humans and wildlife. They called instead for investment in renewable energy.

Discrimination

LGBTI people’s rights

In June, the legislature passed a law on sexual orientation and gender identity which required the government to draw up a plan to promote LGBTI people’s rights and protect them from “unjustified” discrimination. The law did not define what is meant by “unjustified” and fell short of ensuring equal rights for LGBTI people.

In a landmark ruling in October, the Supreme Court found unconstitutional provisions in the Gender Identity Disorder Special Cases Act requiring transgender people to undergo sterilization as a requirement for changing their gender in the family registry.¹

The legal ban on same-sex marriage and other forms of gender-based discrimination continued to be contested in the courts. In June, the Fukuoka District Court ruled that the prohibition on same-sex marriage was not unconstitutional, but recommended legislative changes to guarantee better protections for same-sex couples.² In September, the Sapporo District Court ruled that a person in a same-sex relationship was not entitled to spousal benefits.

Women’s rights

Japan slid down the rankings on gender equality in the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Gender Gap Report, falling from 116th to 125th out of 146 countries. The report found that despite almost complete parity on educational attainment and health, political representation of women had declined in recent years and that they held only 10% of parliamentary seats and less than 10% of ministerial posts.

Ethnic Koreans

Discrimination against ethnic Koreans continued. On the centenary in September of a massacre of ethnic Koreans in Japan, the government refused to officially recognize the event or apologize.

Gender-based violence

Parliament adopted amendments to the Penal Code in June under which certain forms of non-consensual sexual intercourse were recognized for the first time as rape, and the age of sexual consent was raised from 13 to 16. The statute of limitations for reporting rape was extended from 10 to 15 years.

In June, Rina Gonoi, a former member of Japan’s Self-Defence Forces, brought a civil lawsuit against five former soldiers for mental distress caused by sexual violence committed against her while serving in the military, and against the government for failing to prevent or properly investigate the assaults. In December, Fukushima District Court found three of the five soldiers guilty of “forced indecency” and sentenced them to suspended prison sentences of two years each. A report on a Ministry of Defence-commissioned investigation, published in August, found an entrenched culture of harassment, including sexual harassment, in the military.

Corporate accountability

Hundreds of victims sought compensation for sexual exploitation and abuse linked to the deceased founder of Johnny and Associates Entertainment, a talent agency behind the success of Japanese boy bands. The company issued a public apology, but following a visit to Japan in July and August, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights criticized the inadequate responses by the government and the company.

Refugees’ and migrants’ rights

In June, parliament passed a controversial Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Bill which permits the deportation of individuals who have applied for refugee status three times or more. The Bill also maintained the principle of detention of asylum seekers, with an exception for cases where non-custodial monitoring measures are applied, and failed to prohibit the detention of children. No maximum length of detention was provided for, and due process continued to be denied by failing to allow judicial reviews of detention orders.³ A joint letter from UN experts in April raised concerns about the planned amendments, noting that Japan’s detention policies constituted arbitrary detention.

In April and July, two asylum seekers from Türkiye and Iran were awarded damages of JPY 220,000 (approximately USD 1,500) and JPY 5.5 million (approximately USD 37,000) respectively. They had sued the government in 2022 in relation to their arbitrary detention by the immigration authorities.

Death penalty

The retrial of Hakamada Iwao, the longest-serving death row prisoner in Japan, began in October following an order by the Tokyo High Court in March which found that his original conviction in 1968 was based on a forced confession and doubtful supporting evidence. Hakamada Iwao was temporarily released from custody in 2014.⁴