May 22, 2025

A civil group working to revise the law to eliminate the civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse claims met with Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Motomura Nobuko on May 21 in the Diet building to request that the JCP work hard to realize legal revisions.

The group submitted to the JCP lawmaker more than 60,000 signatures in a petition demanding that no time limitation be applied to child sexual abuse claims.

Under the current Civil Code, victims of sexual abuse must file lawsuits for compensation within three or five years if they can identify the perpetrator, otherwise they will lose their right to claim damage.

Co-head of the group Nakamura Kazuya, a former member of Japan’s most powerful pop-talent agency for boy bands Johnny & Associates, said that it took him 21 years to speak out about being sexually abused by the late agency founder Johnny Kitagawa when he was 15 years old. He went on to say that if the statute of limitations is removed, it will help more adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse to file civil claims against their abusers when they feel ready and able to do so.

Another co-head and lawyer Kawakami Yoshito, referring to a revision of the Criminal Code in 2023, pointed out that the statute of limitation on nonconsensual sex was extended and that the statute of limitation for sexual assault cases involving victims under 18 does not begin to run until the victim reaches the age of 18. He appealed for the need to revise provisions of the Civil Code regarding the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse.

JCP Motomura in response expressed her determination to make efforts to amend the Civil Code on this matter.

Past related article:
> JCP hears from victims of sexual abuse by founder of male J-pop idol agency [September 13, 2023]