Later, it was stipulated in Articles 74 and 76 as one of the elements of the current Penal Code, Part II, Chapter 1, "Crimes against the Imperial Family," which came into effect in 1908.
[2] Therefore, this law forced Japanese people to support the Emperor, Shinto, and militaristic Japan during World War II.
[3] However, after World War II, in accordance with the strong instructions of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, MacArthur, and the spirit of the new constitution, which respects the equality of individuals, "crimes against the imperial family," including lèse-majesté, were abolished in the 1947 revision of the penal code.
[9] Thereafter, in 1877, the "Draft of the Japanese Penal Code" was promulgated, in which lèse-majesté which was an act of disrespect against certain objects was introduced for the first time in Japan.
Thus, in the latter half of the 19th century, when the lèse-majesté first appeared and was officially stipulated, Japan gradually increased the people's reverence for the emperor through all kinds of methods, including education, in accordance with the restoration of imperial rule.
[14] Subsequently, in the “Penal Code” revised in 1908, the lèse-majesté was stipulated in Articles 74 and 76 of Part II, Chapter 1, "Crimes against the Imperial Family".
In 1940, on the occasion of the "2,600th anniversary of the Emperor's accession to the throne," the Bureau of Shrines was promoted to a Institute of Divinities, and with the intensification of the war, the doctrine of the national identity was inspired.
Japan was regarded as a divine country of unparalleled power, ruled by an emperor of the unbroken imperial line and Hakko Ichiu, meaning world domination, became the slogan for the "Holy War”.
In accordance with the strong instructions of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers, MacArthur, and the spirit of the new constitution, which respects the equality of individuals, Articles 73-76 of Chapter I of Part II of the Current Penal Code, "Crimes against the Imperial Family," including "lèse-majesté" were abolished in the "Law Partially Amending the Penal Code" (Law No.
In accordance with the orders of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (Potsdam Declaration and Surrender Document), the government had released the perpetrators of lèse-majesté since October 5, 1945.
At the Food MayDay in May of the same year, placards were seen that read, "Hirohito, imperial edict, the national government has been protected.
The Tokyo Public Prosecutor's Office prosecuted Matsushima Matsutaro, who was responsible for creating the placards, on the grounds that this was a lèse-majesté.