Japan lowers age of majority

On 1 April, a revision of Japan's Civil Code lowering the age of adulthood from 20 to 18 will come into effect, changing the legal definition of an adult for the first time in over 140 years.

While the move aims to encourage active social participation by youth, there are also concerns they will become easy targets for scams after being allowed to enter into consumer contracts without parental consent. Changes to Japan's Juvenile Law to implement stricter punishments for 18- and 19-year-old criminal offenders will also come into effect on April 1. The revision will expand the range of crimes where 18- and 19-year-olds are referred to prosecutors from family courts and tried as adults. Currently, homicide is the only criminal charge for which minors are subject to prosecution, but the changes will add crimes punishable with a minimum of one year in prison, such as robbery or rape, to the list. The revision will also relax rules for media reporting, allowing for the full names and faces of 18- and 19-year-old offenders to be revealed.

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Law makers worry about how to protect those with little or no experience as adults who could be particularly susceptible to scams.

According to the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan, which deals with consumer complaints, consultations in fiscal 2020 by those age between 20 and 24, the new adult cohort at that time, exceeded the number of what were then pre-adults age 18 and 19 by almost 40%. Many in the 20-24 age range said they had fallen into trouble after purchasing business materials such as manuals on "how to earn a high income," or buying dietary supplements or cosmetic medical services. They also spent more than 18- and 19-year-olds. Facing such a reality, the government, as part of a revised law on consumer contracts, has sought to bolster measures that would allow adults to nullify contracts, such as with unscrupulous dating sites. Other crooked business practices might involve salespeople, for example, arousing anxiety to get consumers to purchase expensive, and often unnecessary, products with deceptive sales pitches.

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Honestly the second point about scams and deceptive practices should be targeted no matter the age group they are concerned about. I have known plenty of adults, who have been adults for many years, that don't have a bit of common sense when it comes to situations and "deals" that are frankly "too good to be true".

That is very true however I think youth and elderly are even easier targets. Interesting to see some of the same scams in Japan and the US like we noticed your roof is damaged you need a whole new one. We had that in Kyushuu and the US.

Here in Maine we have a lot of phony police calls saying we didn't show up for jury duty. I always say as a police officer I can't be on that list and boy do they hang up fast. I'd be in big trouble if they called on me for jury duty , LOL. I have to pee every 20 or 30 minutes and I don't think they would want to take that many breaks.

I think it is a good policy.
Why, well being an American at the age of 18 I looked forward to it. Because my parents would not be responsible for me any longer. Plus many other things too.
I do wonder what the age to enter the JDF is now?
I remember here in Japan we had beer machines everywhere and were even allowed to drink on the trains at night and this was in Tokyo area. Those actually were the good days until the foreigners got too drunk and acted like 17 year olders out to cause mayhem . The countryside here was the last to ban beer machines maybe about 15 years ago. I don't see them anywhere anymore. Maybe on isolated islands ?

Yea always kind of arbitrary to pick what age for such things. In the US you can fight and die for your country at 18 but no beer until 21 You can also smoke at 18.
You are probably old enough to remember when we had different drinking ages in different states until the fed used withholding highway funds to make the age the same nationally.

salyavin said:

Yea always kind of arbitrary to pick what age for such things. In the US you can fight and die for your country at 18 but no beer until 21 You can also smoke at 18.
You are probably old enough to remember when we had different drinking ages in different states until the fed used withholding highway funds to make the age the same nationally.

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Honestly, I would say that things here (US) should go the opposite way to some extent. I would rather that military service, tobacco, and alcohol all be at least 21 if not a bit older. It has always bothered me to see the military recruiters in the schools lying outright to kids about how great the military is and that they will be staying in a tropical paradise. Telling them that they will have their college paid for, which is true and unfortunately in the rural areas is a huge motivator for poor families. Tricking them into enlisting the minute they turn 18. Note that they start wooing the kids at 15 telling them how great it is and convincing them they will be a hero and a patriot.

For those who have served, I don't mean this as any sort of attack on you or to indicate that I don't appreciate that you served. I just don't like that they recruit in high schools and start at such a young age and are allowed to lie and misrepresent the realities of the military to the kids.

If I had a kid who wanted to go into the military now , I'd say go Air Force. The kid I played big brother to described it as almost as easy as going to college which blew me away. Not sure if you can still do it , but when I was in you could tell them what rate you wanted to go for , take some tests for it and be guaranteed that job after boot camp. I will agree that recruiters tend to blow smoke up applicants butts to get them to sign. There do seem to be a lot of benefits to having served after you get out in some areas.