Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2015 January 21 - 27 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Osaka high court: dancing is not crime

The Osaka High Court on January 21 upheld the lower court decision acquitting a former club owner of a charge of violating the Entertainment Business Act by allowing his customers to dance.

The former club owner, Kanemitsu Masatoshi, was arrested and indicted in April 2012 for an alleged violation of the Entertainment Business Act which bans clubs from letting customers dance without permission from the local authorities.

In the court battle, Kanemitsu and his counsel claimed that to punish club owners for allowing customers to dance infringes on freedom of expression and the right to operate a business.

At a rally held after the ruling, lawyer Nishikawa Ken’ichi said, “The court acknowledges that the Entertainment Business Act is outdated. This is a big step forward. Frankly speaking, I wanted the court to rule the regulations on dancing to be unconstitutional.”

Calling for the removal of regulations on dancing from the law, the Japanese Communist Party has taken up the issue in the Diet and incorporated in its election platform in the 2014 December general election.


Past related articles:
> 150,000 ‘Let’s Dance’ signatures submitted to Diet [May 21, 2013]
> Out-of-date dance regulation must be removed: JCP Kokuta [April 17, 2013]
> JCP obtains gov’t agreement to not unfairly intrude on dancing venues [June 18, 2012]