These are shocking laws that are okay in Japan
but illegal around the world
[ Intro Music]
So I've made videos before on things
that you can't do in Japan because of Japanese law
or unknown laws here in
Japan that could get you arrested
But this time I wanted to switch things up
and show you guys some laws here in
Japan that are actually legal but are
illegal in the rest of the world
Many think that Japan is a very strict
country and rightfully so but when you
hear some of these Japanese laws you may
be scratching your head and to be clear
from the start I don't recommend doing any of these things
I'm not providing
legal advice and this is for
entertainment only but like always
before I start if you want to see what
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How these laws compare to your country
and if you agree or disagree with any of them
alright let's do this
This one is a much debated topic in Japan today
But the legal age of consent is 13 years old in Japan
and one of the lowest in the world
age of consent referring to the minimum
age at which a person is considered to
be capable of giving consent to sexual acts
In fact this has been part of the
Japan penal code since 1907
more than a hundred years without change
While at the same time
leaving some gray area for specific cases
At the end of the day though the
national age of consent in Japan is 13 years old
On somewhat of a lighter note
it's legal in Japan to marry your first cousin
Like many of these laws in the video
it may be legal in some countries or if you're
from the U.S. in your state but the truth is
in other parts of the world marrying
your first cousin is still against the law
So I thought this one was worth mentioning
This law dates all the way
back to Japan's Meiji period
when it was passed in 1898.
It's common enough in Japan that there's a word for it
Itokokon
In fact, there have been many famous
and well-known people in Japan
who have married their first cousin
For example Japan's 56th Prime Minister
who's the grandfather of Japan's more recent Prime Minister
Abe was married to his first cousin
There were even two Prime Minister's
after him who were also
married to their first cousin
One of the reasons for this law was to allow
families to keep their wealth within their family
Unfortunately for those living in Japan today
who also want to legally spend the rest of their life
with their first cousin
Japan is all for it
So this is an interesting one
In Japan, you can sue someone for defamation
if they damage your honor a.k.a public image
Even if the statements are true
This one kind of blew my mind since I'm from the U.S
and we understand defamation to be
But in japan
hurting someone's honor or even hurting
a company's honor is protected by law
Despite the statements being true
I should note though that many laws in Japan
leave a lot of gray area
But the main three criteria for defamation in Japan is
So for example telling your
co-workers or the public that your
married boss is having an affair with
someone even though it's completely true
is considered defamation in Japan
Even online statements if the three
previously mentioned criteria are met
can be considered defamation there are
exceptions though such that you're
stating facts about public interest or
you're a whistleblower to expose company fraud
But at the end of the day the
Japanese law is to protect individuals
and companies from malicious actors that
intend to do their honor or image
harm
Here were two examples that actually happened in Japan
Case 1 - In 2018
a person was having an affair and it was
posted on social media by a third party
although the affair was happening
the person sued the third party for defamation
The Tokyo district court
judged for the plaintiff and was awarded
a 100,000 yen about $820 today
Case 2 - A Quasi-Rape incident occurred in an event circle
A magazine published an anonymous report
about the incident without giving the
subject's real name
In this case
although the incident happened and the
subject was anonymous in the report
The court still awarded for the subject as
it was judged that the subject could be
identified by judging the totality of
the circumstances and received a total
of 4.4 million yen for defamation damages
about $36,000
May be not necessarily illegal around the world
but I thought this one was worth mentioning
So yeah if you're in Japan
and someone's talking that you don't like
You may be able to do something about it
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Now this one is quite a sensitive topic for many people
So I'm gonna try to tread lightly
In Japan hunting whale and dolphins as well as
eating seal and sea lion is completely legal
although it's part of the diet for
some Japanese it's probably safe to say
that most don't eat it regularly
Yet it's still easily found in shops and some restaurants
Even a quick search on Amazon
will yield results for some of these animals
On the other hand shark been also legal to eat in Japan
Probably more commonly eaten and I think it's
fair to say that many Japanese consider
it a delicious food as it's easily found on menus
Probably most commonly found in
Chinese restaurants throughout Japan
But since it's such an expensive delicacy here
Japanese probably won't be eating it regularly
In regards to whaling specifically
Joji Morishita who negotiated
Japan's withdrawal from the
International whaling commission said
Whether you agree with any of this or not
The simple fact is at this time it's legal to eat
these foods here in Japan
So these days
we all pretty much know that cigarettes
are not that good for you
Many places around the
world have laws protecting citizens
including children from cigarettes and
second-hand smoke
But Japan although not there yet is slowly catching up
There are still things that you can do legally
here in Japan when it comes to
cigarettes that aren't necessarily legal
in other parts of the world
In Japan you can still buy cigarettes
from vending machines and granted you have a Taspo photo ID card
and you are of age
Also, although most indoor smoking as of 2020
has been prohibited you can still smoke
in hotel rooms, cigar bars and even some
small size restaurants and bars
that were open before April 2020
I don't know though I feel like there's still a
lot of restaurants and bars
all throughout Japan that were open before 2020
Either way Japan has come a long
way from where it was just a few years ago
when wherever you went indoors
you can pretty much smoke inside
Anyways, those are things that you can legally do in Japan
that may be illegal in other parts of the world
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and I'll catch you guys in the next one