politics

Lower house OKs bill to ban drones over certain areas

16 Comments

The lower house of the Diet on Thursday approved a bill that bans the flying of drones near airports and over areas where major events are being held, such as festivals and fireworks.

It also bans flying drones near the imperial palace, the Diet, the prime minister's office, Supreme Court, foreign embassies and other facilities, Fuji TV reported.

According to the bill, air space within 300 meters of such buildings would be considered a no-fly zone. Offenders will be subject to prison terms of up to one year or a maximum fine of 500,000 yen.

Furthermore, flying drones at night without the government's permission is also prohibited under the revised Civil Aeronautics Law.

Earlier this year, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government banned the flying of drones in 81 public parks and gardens. Drones have been included in an ordinance that bans the use of remote-controlled aircraft in parks and gardens.

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16 Comments
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How're they going to enforce it?

3 ( +5 / -2 )

They ban drones in parks and gardens and at festivals, yet it was a big bad kite at a kite festival that came crashing down recently, actually injuring people.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Ridiculous! Just ban them outright over a busy city such as Tokyo where they will certainly be more of an annoyance than a help.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Add all residential areas to the list, please.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Im satisfied with this

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

What's next paper airplanes?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Oh bugger I just bought one! ;(

1 ( +2 / -1 )

to smithinjapan Easy, if they find you violated this, they will arrest you.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

All thanks to one douche who ruined it for everyone else coz he was unhappy.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Saran Mix: "to smithinjapan Easy, if they find you violated this, they will arrest you."

You missed the point. They have to find you first in order to enforce it, and THAT would be no easy task. Basically they have to wait for drones to go out of range and fall to the ground, or get parked on top of the DIET building by a fool (for which they didn't know about it for how long?). Once they have a drone physically in their hands it should be easy so long as there are serial numbers, but to GET it... I'm guessing they have no way of doing so at present save for good (or bad) luck. So for every hundred or so there's an off chance they might catch ONE. I have nothing statistically to base that number on, so it might actually be in the thousands, or might be they could catch them easily.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

"Drone" is a word with a perfectly good meaning. These are not drones, but rather, glorified r/c aircraft with or without cameras.

In fact, I doubt the bill or any of these bans even make a distinction between say, an old battery powered airplane and a quad copter with a camera attached. So why do they use the word "drone" at all??

0 ( +0 / -0 )

They should come under the same restrictions as model aircraft, which is what they are.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Does anyone else find it strange how all of this domestic drone talk has been in the news the past couple years? I mean how long have we had model aircraft, which they pretty much are? Surely those were regulated before now?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Drones should be illegal without license. They are a pubkic nuisance

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I guess all the power of spying is not there's anymore. Drones are the future they can be used for surveying crop fields, and to find lost persons etc etc. Just because some idiot misuses them don't make them illegal for the hobbyist. Bosuzoko motorcycle gangs are a nuisance but they continue to roam and disrupt the streets of Japan. The thousands of stray cats in Tokyo that roam and cause damage to property are a nuisance but they don't ban them, like they do stray dogs.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

careing AUG. 29, 2015 - 10:54AM JST Just because some idiot misuses them don't make them illegal for the hobbyist.

There are too many of these that misuses and it is a safety problem. Small drones pose a danger because they can be sucked into the jet engines of commercial planes near all the airports and crash a plane. They can also collide with police helicopters. There are many low-flying air tankers that are fighting a forest fires. The drone operators should be prosecuted for murder if the drones caused delays that led to deaths of any firefighters or civilians.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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