Things Okay in Japan but Illegal Around the World

These are shocking laws that are okay in Japan but illegal around the world 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 I'm doing on the daily check out my Instagram account if you guys want to help support the channel then check out my Japan merch and if you have any questions about Japan or your Japan travels check out my Discord community Oh and let me know in the comments 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 Before I continue on I want to give a quick shout out to my regular sponsor BOKKSU If you all don't already know Bokksu provide a gourmet experience of Japanese snacks and tea pairings delivered to your front door they work with traditional Japanese factories some over 100 years old to provide you with authentic japanese flavors and each monthly box has its own unique theme so you get new snacks each and every time first time users will get a seasons of Japan box and after that you'll get a theme box like this one these boxes are so awesome you get this nice booklet that takes you through each snack as well as extra information about Japan and Japanese culture you get 10 to 25 snacks in your box depending on the package you choose and they're all hand-picked from all over Japan to deliver you unique and local japanese flavors so get $15 off your own authentic Japanese subscription snack box from Bokksu by using my code PAOLO15 and link in the description 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 If you guys like this video like always help me out and hit that like button if you guys want to see more videos like this or anything related to Japan Hit that subscribe button and the bell button and I'll catch you guys in the next one