(But) as it is a law that punishes people, I wanted to carefully consider exceptions."
When interviewed by the media on June 8, he explained, "I agree with the idea of punishing adults to protect those of junior high school age, as discussed by the working team. Honda apologized and retracted his remarks on June 7, saying that his comments were inappropriate.
Japanese law unconditionally punishes perpetrators who engage in sexual acts with those under the age of consent. According to sources including lower house member Manabu Terata, who chaired the meeting, Honda made the comment after an external lecturer taking part proposed raising the minimum age of consent for sexual acts from 13 to 16.
The controversial comment was made by House of Representatives member Hiranao Honda, 56, at a May 10 meeting of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP)'s working team to revise the Penal Code for sexual crimes.