Japan

Last Updated 8 June 2021

Japan is an island nation of 126 million inhabitants, located in the Pacific Ocean, east of China. It is a constitutional parliamentary monarchy and a major economic power.

At least 69% of the population is reported to practice Shintoism and/or Buddhism. A further 1.5% of the population are Christian.1https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/japan/#people-and-society

 
Systemic Discrimination
Mostly Satisfactory
Free and Equal

Constitution and government

Japan’s secular constitution2japan.kantei.go.jp/constitution_and_government_of_japan/constitution_e.html provides strong protections of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, as well as a clear separation of religion and state:

Article 19: Freedom of thought and conscience shall not be violated.

Article 20: Freedom of religion is guaranteed to all. No religious organization shall receive any privileges from the State, nor exercise any political authority. No person shall be compelled to take part in any religious act, celebration, rite or practice. The State and its organs shall refrain from religious education or any other religious activity….

Article 89: No public money or other property shall be expended or appropriated for the use, benefit or maintenance of any religious institution or association …

Religious organizations can register as ‘religious juridical persons’ or ‘religious corporations’ (shūkyō hōjin). Benefits include receiving a more favorable tax status, particularly regarding donations, but only if following strict regulations. The majority of these religious corporations are Shinto or Buddhist. A number of Christian and Islamic religious corporations also exist, but are decidedly in the minority.3https://www.bunka.go.jp/english/policy/religious_institutions/

During the imperial abdication and succession to the throne in 2019, there was some outcry about the ceremonies being paid for with public funds, as they feature strong Shinto elements, with the emperor regarded as a direct descendent of the sun goddess Amaterasu.4https://www.economist.com/asia/2019/05/02/the-imperial-succession-highlights-shintos-muddled-status-in-japan; https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2019/05/29a4a58c1725-controversy-rekindled-over-shinto-linked-imperial-succession-rite.html

Although religion is tolerated in Japan and there is little systemic persecution of those religious, the state does specifically track Muslims. It was revealed in 2010 that the Japanese government had ordered the surveillance of at least 70,000 Muslims in the country since 2004. Although it was challenged in court, the Japanese Supreme Court dismissed the case, arguing that they were entitled to compensation for the violation of their right to privacy, but not naming the surveillance as unconstitutional5Saul J. Takahashi, “Muslim Surveillance in Japan: A Narrative Aimed at Trivialization”. Islamophobia Studies Journal, 4, no. 2 (2018); https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/6/29/top-court-green-lights-surveillance-of-japans-muslims

Education and children’s rights

The national curriculum in Japan is broadly secular; religion or religious education is not taught in public-funded Japanese schools by law.6U.S. State Department, Office of International Religious Freedom, “2019 Report on International Religious Freedom: Japan”. https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-report-on-international-religious-freedom/japan/  Some private schools and universities are associated with specific Buddhist sects or other religions.

One noteworthy component of the Japanese education system is the addition of ‘moral education’ lessons. Unlike other countries, where morality may be embedded in the curriculum, morality is taught as a specific subject in Japanese schools.7MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) Curriculum Guidelines, https://www.mext.go.jp/en/unesco/title04/detail04/sdetail04/1375712.htm  There has been debate on this topic in the media in Japan, as there were fears that the revision of this education could lead to strongly nationalist teachings.8https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/04/28/national/media-national/confronting-definition-moral-education/

Family, community and society

Although the majority of Japanese are considered nominally Buddhist, Shinto, or both, most Japanese consider themselves mushūkyō, or ‘not religious’. This is not necessarily the same as declared atheism however, as many also continue to pray at shrines and temples, which is seen as a custom. The word religion (shūkyō) is still primarily equated with foreign religions and foreignness.9Jason A. Josephson. The Invention of Religion in Japan. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, 2012.

For those who do consider themselves religious, there are several so-called ‘new religions’, such as Soka Gakkai, which are active in the country and actively recruit followers. Many of these new religions face scrutiny, especially after the Aum affair, where members of the Aum Shinrikyō sect left bags of sarin in the Tokyo metro in 1995, killing 13 and wounding thousands.10Helen Hardacre, “After Aum: Religion and Civil Society in Japan”, in Frank J. Schwartz & Susan J. Pharr (eds.) The State of Civil Society in Japan (Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003)

Shinto and Buddhist worship do feature heavily in national holidays, as well as festivals (matsuri). The Obon holiday period in summer is defined by visits to Buddhist family altars, sending prayers to an array of kami (gods and deities, including ancestral ones), while the New Year holiday period sees the custom of hatsumode, or the first shrine visit of the year, where people pray for the year ahead, amongst other traditions. This is generally seen as part of culture or custom, rather than religion.

Women’s rights

Japan ranked 120th out of 156 countries in the 2021 Global Gender Gap Report, and in practice, women are still subject to a highly patriarchal society.11Global Gender Gap Report 2021, https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2021 ; https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h00982/

There are a handful of places in Japan that have banned women under the banner of religion or tradition, including Okinoshima, an island off the southwest coast, and a specific boat used during a festival in Handa, central Japan.12 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-40549909; https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210406/p2a/00m/0na/023000c Moreover, women are not allowed into professional sumo rings, as they would ‘defile’ it based on Shinto-Buddhist ideas of purity. Experts say these ideas are less indicative of women’s status in society than holdovers from traditions, invented or otherwise.13https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/04/30/national/social-issues/banning-women-sumo-ring-sexism-centuries-old-cultural-tradition/

LGBTI+ rights

Gay marriage is not legalized on a national level in Japan. Around 60 municipalities, however, have started accepting a form of civil partnerships for same-sex couples, which is not legally binding. In a landmark ruling in 2021, the Sapporo high court declared the ban on same-sex marriage ‘unconstitutional’, although the ruling was considered mostly a symbolic victory. In practice, gay and lesbian people still struggle to come out in Japan in daily life, with society still being relatively conservative on the topic, although younger people appear to support same-sex marriage.14https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-56425002

There is no legislation that protects LGBTI+ individuals in Japan. A proposed bill calls to ‘promote understanding’ of LGBTI+ people, but has thus far fallen short of support in the government.15https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/24/japan-ruling-party-accused-of-violating-olympic-charter-over-lgbt-rights

Transgender people are routinely subject to discrimination, and often struggle to fit into a society where gender norms are closely prescribed. Human Rights Watch has detailed stories of transgender people struggling to fit into the heavily gendered school system (e.g. wearing school uniforms associated with their birth gender) and accessing appropriate health care, amongst other issues. Legally changing one’s gender is also a complicated and controversial process that includes surgery, sterilization and a specific psychiatric diagnosis under current law. Changing one’s gender is officially only allowed for those over 20, unmarried and without children under 20. Calls to revise this law have been gaining in strength in recent years.16https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/05/25/japan-new-momentum-reform-transgender-law

Freedom of expression, advocacy of humanist values

Freedom of thought and expression are respected and protected in law and practice. Defamation, insult, and intimidation are criminalized.17https://www.loc.gov/law/help/freedom-expression/japan.php#_ftn5 Internet access is not restricted.

While freedom of expression generally has been upheld and the media is usually considered free across Japan, there have been serious concerns in recent years about “state secrecy” legislation.

Passed in late 2013 and coming into force on 10 December 2014, critics complain that Japan’s State Secrecy Law targets whistleblowers leaking broadly defined “state secrets” and that journalists publishing leaked information will face up to 10 years in prison, even if publication of such classified information would be justified, e.g. to expose human rights violations or corruption. Prior to its enactment, Reporters Without Borders said that, in effect, the law “is making investigative journalism illegal” and the newspaper Asahi Shimbun said the law “almost limitlessly widens the range of what can be considered confidential.”18hrw.org/news/2013/11/25/japan-amend-special-secrets-bill-protect-public-interest; theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/05/whistleblowers-japan-crackdown-state-secretsajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201312070057

During its first 12 months of operation, government agencies were quick to declare numerous “state secrets”, with concerns persisting, despite government assurance that oversight was weak and there was little to prevent the government from declaring inconvenient truths as “secret”. Japan cancelled a visit by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression planned for December 2015.19japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/12/27/national/politics-diplomacy/government-entities-designate-400-state-secrets-under-new-law/; japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2015/04/04/editorials/oversight-secrets-weak/indexoncensorship.org/2015/12/71961/

Since then, however, little attention has been paid to this law. In 2019, the number of state organs subject to it was revised from 70 to 28. Concerns of possible misuse or arbitrary enforcement of the law remain, but there have been no major cases to date where this was the primary concern.20https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20191217/p2a/00m/0na/008000c

In the past decades, hate speech, primarily against ethnic Korean and Chinese residents in Japan, has become a social issue. A national law to deter hate speech was enacted in 2016, but observers noted that there was no stipulation of punishment for those convicted of hate speech. The city of Kawasaki, which has a large ethnic Korean population, enacted a local law in 2019 that criminally punished hate speech.21https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2019/12/bc1a826d32be-kawasaki-enacts-japans-1st-bill-punishing-hate-speech.html

References

References
1 https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/japan/#people-and-society
2 japan.kantei.go.jp/constitution_and_government_of_japan/constitution_e.html
3 https://www.bunka.go.jp/english/policy/religious_institutions/
4 https://www.economist.com/asia/2019/05/02/the-imperial-succession-highlights-shintos-muddled-status-in-japan; https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2019/05/29a4a58c1725-controversy-rekindled-over-shinto-linked-imperial-succession-rite.html
5 Saul J. Takahashi, “Muslim Surveillance in Japan: A Narrative Aimed at Trivialization”. Islamophobia Studies Journal, 4, no. 2 (2018); https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/6/29/top-court-green-lights-surveillance-of-japans-muslims
6 U.S. State Department, Office of International Religious Freedom, “2019 Report on International Religious Freedom: Japan”. https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-report-on-international-religious-freedom/japan/
7 MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) Curriculum Guidelines, https://www.mext.go.jp/en/unesco/title04/detail04/sdetail04/1375712.htm
8 https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/04/28/national/media-national/confronting-definition-moral-education/
9 Jason A. Josephson. The Invention of Religion in Japan. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press, 2012.
10 Helen Hardacre, “After Aum: Religion and Civil Society in Japan”, in Frank J. Schwartz & Susan J. Pharr (eds.) The State of Civil Society in Japan (Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003)
11 Global Gender Gap Report 2021, https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2021 ; https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h00982/
12 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-40549909; https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210406/p2a/00m/0na/023000c
13 https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/04/30/national/social-issues/banning-women-sumo-ring-sexism-centuries-old-cultural-tradition/
14 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-56425002
15 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/24/japan-ruling-party-accused-of-violating-olympic-charter-over-lgbt-rights
16 https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/05/25/japan-new-momentum-reform-transgender-law
17 https://www.loc.gov/law/help/freedom-expression/japan.php#_ftn5
18 hrw.org/news/2013/11/25/japan-amend-special-secrets-bill-protect-public-interest; theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/05/whistleblowers-japan-crackdown-state-secretsajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/politics/AJ201312070057
19 japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/12/27/national/politics-diplomacy/government-entities-designate-400-state-secrets-under-new-law/; japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2015/04/04/editorials/oversight-secrets-weak/indexoncensorship.org/2015/12/71961/
20 https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20191217/p2a/00m/0na/008000c
21 https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2019/12/bc1a826d32be-kawasaki-enacts-japans-1st-bill-punishing-hate-speech.html

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