A Liberal Democratic Party task force on June 1 reached a broad agreement on draft legislation that would establish a new criminal offense for desecrating Japan’s national flag.

The bill defines a national flag as a physical object that is socially recognized as being used as a national flag. Creative depictions, including those in anime, video games, or AI-generated content, would not be covered by the law.

Under the proposal, publicly damaging, tearing down, or defacing the national flag in a manner deemed likely to cause strong offense or disgust could be subject to criminal penalties. The legislation also specifies that posting such acts on social media for public viewing may constitute an offense.

The proposed penalties are imprisonment for up to two years or a fine of up to ¥200,000, matching existing punishments for the desecration of foreign national flags.

While some lawmakers expressed caution about creating the new offense, the majority of participants at the June 1 meeting supported the proposal.

The Liberal Democratic Party plans to coordinate with the Japan Innovation Party before submitting the bill to the Diet. It aims to pass the bill during the current parliamentary session.