Lower house OKs bill outlawing Japanese flag desecration

The Democratic Party for the People and the Sanseito party boycotted the vote in the lower house in protest of the steering by the LDP and its junior coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, of parliamentary debates on other key bills, although the two conservative opposition forces joined the ruling parties in submitting the bill.

Whether the less powerful House of Councillors, where the ruling camp remains a minority, will pass the bill is unclear as major opposition parties are concerned that the legislation violates the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution.

Opposition parties, such as the Centrist Reform Alliance and the Komeito party, have also questioned the legal rationale for criminalizing vandalism of the national flag and the definition of punishable acts.

In the Feb. 8 general election, the LDP and the JIP jointly secured more than three-quarters of the lower house seats, well above the two-thirds threshold required to override the upper chamber when pushing through bills.

The bill calls for a prison sentence of up to two years or a fine of up to 200,000 yen ($1,200) for publicly damaging, removing or defiling the national flag in a way that arouses "strong feelings of discomfort or disgust" in others.

The proposed legislation, included in the LDP-JIP coalition agreement in October as a policy goal, is intended to correct a "contradiction" as provisions outlaw the desecration of the flags of other countries in the current Penal Code.

With the end of the ongoing Diet session on July 17 approaching, confrontation between the ruling and opposition blocs has intensified as the LDP and the JIP push ahead with deliberations on their other bills.

The bills include one to reduce the number of lower house seats by about 10 percent and another to establish a "second capital" as a backup for Tokyo.