As part of significant changes to sex crime legislation, lawmakers in Japan raised the age of consent from 13, which is among the lowest in the world, to 16 on Friday, June 16.

The upper house of parliament unanimously approved the revisions, which also make rape prosecution requirements more clear and make voyeurism a crime.

The Tokyo-based organisation Human Rights Now hailed the measures as “a big step forward” and other activists praised them.

The organisation claimed in a statement that raising the age of consent in particular would “send a message to society that sexual violence by adults against children is unacceptable.”

The age of consent below which sexual activity is considered statutory rape is 16 in Britain, 15 in France, and 14 in Germany and China.

Japan’s had been unchanged since 1907, with children aged 13 and above deemed capable of consent.

In practice, however, across many parts of the country regional ordinances banning “lewd” acts with minors were sometimes seen as effectively raising the age of consent to 18.

Under the new law, teen couples no more than five years apart in age will be exempt from prosecution if both partners are over 13.

Japan last revised its criminal code on sexual offences in 2017, for the first time in more than a century, but campaigners said the reforms were insufficient.

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