politics

Lower house passes bills to lower adulthood age

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but people under 20 will still be prohibited from drinking alcohol, smoking and gambling.

So still not adults...

9 ( +9 / -0 )

What is an adult really? We have "adults" in Kasumigaseki but sometimes it looks like a kindergarten, I have seen smarter teenagers and teenagers behave better than adults. Perhaps its time to find a different way to decide what constitutes an adult.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

The amount of under 20s who drink as a regular part University Club activities is very high. Everyone knows it.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

They can vote, get married, but can't smoke or drink. What's the thinking behind this? They are adults or not?

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Who decides what ?

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

zichi - the law on smoking changed a few years ago in the UK and it's now 18.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

But the real question is, will the new law allow 18 and 19 years old to be imprisoned for murder, rape, theft, etc., and could they be publicly named when arrested?

5 ( +6 / -1 )

What is more important is that the voting age has been lowered to 18. PM Abe has given millions the right to vote. Well done! PM Abe surely is a PM to be admired.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

people under 20 will still be prohibited from drinking alcohol, smoking and gambling.

So, they are not really adults. They are just big kids. If they can be tried as an adult in a court they should have all the other responsibilities of adult.

"hold significant meaning for revitalizing society facing aging and a falling birthrate."

Um, no it doesn't. It just means more easily influenced voters at the post.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Sorry guys, we need more soldiers.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Even they are not adults, Abe's govt. can check them when they have the My Number card, what they easily can get it to show identity. Is it good or not for them, there are some approaches of all those young ages, ages public accepted for marriage, drink alcohol(+smoke cigarette), drive cars, gamble, criminal punishment, vote and so on, something not well known how much it will be good for them yet.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

The passage from childhood into adulthood has many steps. Parents should slowly provide more and more freedoms & responsibilities as kids age. This way, they are slowly prepared for the real world and not thrown into it completely unprepared.

BTW, in the USA, 18 yr old kids in the military can drink on base. Dependents cannot, but those in the military can.

Few people are truly adults when their age says they are.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

So much for enjoying a toast of champagne at my wedding.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It sounds like they are pushing marriage for younger people, hoping they will have more kids and this will solve all of Japan’s woes. What a bunch of fools are running this country!

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Yeah halierika, I was going to say 21, but 23 is better.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Japan's lower house has approved bills to lower the age of adulthood to 18 from the current 20, in a move aimed at spurring active social participation by youth in a rapidly aging society.

No, get off it, the "move" is to get more of these new "adults" to produce offspring, go into debt, pay more taxes, and become and even bigger burden on society!

The small print; able to enter into contracts, PLEASE there are few 18 or 19 year olds here that are capable of standing on their own two feet, let alone enter into a contract where they have no means to pay it off!

What is more important is that the voting age has been lowered to 18. PM Abe has given millions the right to vote. Well done! PM

Remember just because they have the right, and recent elections will bear this out, they, just like everyone else who doesnt vote here, are apathetic to their reality.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Still being treated as children, well done Japan.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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