Japan’s New Flag-Desecration Law Raises Alarm for Artists, Museums
3July 18, 2026
The July 17passing into lawofJapan’s Bill Concerning Punishment of the Desecration of the National Flag and
Among those who have expressed reservations about the law are members of the International Association of Art Critics Japan (AICA Japan). The group unsuccessfullypetitionedthe Japanese Diet, the country’s legislature, to reject the bill on the grounds that it would, as protesting member Andrew Maerkle wrote in an email, “deter the production and exhibition of new works of art that involve the flag in any form, and will likely result in historic works of art, including important works from the postwar avant-garde that grapple with Japanese national identity, being removed from public circulation.”
Though the new law contains a provision allowing the alteration of intangible versions of the hinomaru, such as those appearing in paintings or comics, “it is difficult to draw a clear distinction between artistic expression and other forms of thought or political speech,” wrote the AICA Japan members.
“I might end up being the glorious first person to get arrested,” wrote artist Aida Makoto in an X post preceding the Diet’s vote on the matter. Makoto, who has deployed the hinomaru in works commenting on Japan’s society and history, took issue with the idea that desecration of the flag is unpatriotic.
“There is almost no one who will tear up their national flag because they hate the nation they were born and raised in,” he told the Asahi Shimbun. “They do it with an unavoidable feeling of being so worried and pained by what has happened to their nation that anger makes them do it. Those are the times when that national flag is used as part of an expressive act.”