Japan’s Flag Desecration Law Poses a Threat to Freedom of Expression

By Human Rights Watch

Click to expand Image People wave Japanese flag in Tokyo, January 27, 2026. © 2026 Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, said on March 17 that they would present a law forbidding the desecration of the national flag during the ongoing Diet session.Currently, Japan’s penal code only makes it a criminal offense to damage foreign flags, which the two parties described in their October coalition agreement as a “contradiction” that they pledged to “correct.”For Takaichi, passing…

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