JAPAN Law and Practice Contributed by: Atsushi Igarashi, Yoichiro Kuriyama, Misa Takahashi and Kosuke Ojio, TMI Associates
8. Women’s Sport 8.1 Women’s Sport Overview
fronts the issue of “female athletes and peri- ods” together with top athletes and experts in the fields of education and medicine. The name of the Project comes from the fact that females are affected by periods for 12 weeks out of the total of 52 weeks each year. In August 2024, the 1252 Project won an award granted by Olymp - ism 365 Innovation Hub, which is a collabora - tion between the IOC, Beyond Sport and Women Win designed to support a diverse community of innovators leading new and impactful approach - es to sport for sustainable development. It was the only project selected from Asia. In addition, in order to eradicate covert filming/ photography of female athletes for the purpose of sexually harassing them, and to thereby ensure a safe environment in which athletes can focus on their performance, seven sports organ - ising bodies, including the JOC, the JSPO, the JPSA and the JSC, are working together to try to resolve this issue. From a legal perspective, cov - ert filming/photography is currently regulated by ordinances set out by each prefectural govern - ment. It is worth noting that Kyoto Prefecture has recently revised its ordinance to add a blanket restriction on “indecent words and actions” . As a result, filming/photographing females’ breasts and buttocks in a persistent manner will now be restricted, even if the targeted female is wearing clothes/uniform.
One of the most noteworthy events demonstrat - ing the recent development and growth of wom - en’s sport in Japan was the establishment of a women’s professional football league, known as the WE League in 2020. The first season of the WE League commenced in September 2021. As the name WE League comes from women’s empowerment it is not only about promoting women’s football but also about upholding its mission to “promote a society which allows everyone with a diversity of dreams and ways of living to individually shine through women’s football and other sports” more generally. Furthermore, as described in 4.2 Corporate Governance , the JSA developed its sports gov - ernance code in 2019. This code requires each sports organisation to secure diversity in the composition of its officers and counsel. In par - ticular, the code requires each sports organisa - tion to set a target percentage of female officers and counsel of at least 40% and to implement specific measures to achieve that target. Consequently, each sports organisation is now making efforts to comply with these require - ments and the percentage of female officers and counsel within each sports organisation is steadily increasing. In particular, the percentage of female directors of all national federations increased from 15.6% in 2018 to over 30% in 2024. Another noteworthy development in relation to women’s sport in Japan is the 1252 Project, which is promoted by a general incorporated association Never Stop Playing Sports, led by a number of famous and successful athletes, including Olympians. The 1252 Project con -
9. Esports 9.1 Esports Overview
In Japan, esports have been attracting increas - ing attention in recent years. Many large com - panies have entered the market, which was esti - mated to be worth over JPY12.5 billion in 2022, compared to approximately JPY9.8 billion in 2021. It was expected to grow to approximately
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