Local governments are accelerating their efforts to stop hate speech through such measures as the introduction of municipal ordinances against the practice.
While some ordinances impose criminal penalties on offenders, how to strike a balance with constitutional protections for freedom of expression will likely be an issue going forward.
Kawasaki clamps down
"I won't let a Korean resident of Japan use discrimination as a shield," a man in his 50s posted on Twitter, a comment directed at Choi Kang I Ja, a 46-year-old South Korean resident of Kawasaki.
The Kawasaki Local Public Prosecutors Office filed a summary indictment on Dec. 27 against the man for violating a Kanagawa prefectural ordinance that bans harassment. The Kawasaki summary court issued an order the same day fining the man 300,000 yen.
Choi is an activist engaged in efforts aimed at eliminating hate speech. The man posted from a Twitter account named "Kyokuto no Kodama" (Echo of the Far East).
The man posted four tweets slandering Choi from his home computer from June 2016 to September 2017, including one that read, "[Your] ethnicity is completely exposed."
Hate speech has rarely been subjected to criminal punishment in Japan. In 2011, men who were yelling "Get out of Japan" near a Korean school in Kyoto were convicted of forcibly obstructing business and other crimes.
In 2018 and 2019, men who harassed South Korean residents of Japan and others online with posts saying things like "[You] cheat people out of money," were fined for defamation and contempt.
However, investigators need to prove that hate speech is directed at a specific victim. "Speech and conduct directed at abstract groups such as 'Koreans' can't be punished," said Yamaguchi University Associate Prof. Osamu Sakuraba, a specialist in criminal law.
Naming names
Municipal governments have started to enact their own ordinances in an effort to overcome the hurdles posed by current law.
The Kawasaki city government enacted an ordinance on Dec. 12 placing criminal penalties on "discriminatory words and deeds, and insulting behavior conducted in public because a person is from a country other than Japan."
Even when a victim cannot be identified, if the person in question continues the behavior and does not follow the mayor's recommendations or orders, their name will be made public and they will be reported to law enforcement authorities. If found guilty, violators can be fined up to 500,000 yen. "We needed our own strong deterrent to stop hate," a city official said.
In July 2016, the Osaka municipal government enacted an ordinance permitting the names of people who engage in hate speech to be made public. On Dec. 27, the government released the names of two people who had denounced Koreans for being a "criminal race" and made other such statements in public. This was the first time names had been made public.
The Tokyo metropolitan government in April enacted an ordinance recognizing hate speech and allowing for details about hate speech incidents to be made public.
Germany and other European countries have created penalties targeting hate speech, and some states in the United States administer extra penalties for hate crimes aimed at specific races and other groups.
Seinan Gakuin University Prof. Yuji Nasu, a constitutional scholar who has studied hate regulations in other countries, said: "From a global perspective, Japan's countermeasures against discriminatory behavior are too weak. I have high praise for the Kawasaki ordinance and hope these measures spread."
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