Japan makes significant changes to sexual consent laws and LGBT understanding.

Japan's parliament has raised the age of sexual consent to 16 from 13, which was among the world's lowest, as part of a revamping of laws related to sex crimes. The changes make sexual intercourse with someone below age 16 considered rape and specify eight scenarios of "consentless sex crimes." The revisions also ban the filming, distribution, and possession of sexually exploitative images taken without consent. Separately, Parliament passed a new law to increase awareness of LGBTQ+ issues, which activists criticized for not guaranteeing equal rights for sexual minorities.