Japan will prioritise laws to fight the scourge of cyber bullying while a consortium of social media networks has vowed to clamp down more strongly on online harassment and slander in the wake of Netflix star Hana Kimura's untimely death last Saturday.
The 22-year-old professional wrestler and cast member of the latest season of Terrace House, a reality hit series aired on Japan's Fuji Television and by streaming giant Netflix, took her own life by releasing toxic gas at her Tokyo home, where she lived alone.
She was distraught in the hours leading up to her death, writing in a tweet: "Every day, I receive nearly 100 blunt opinions and I can't deny that I get hurt (by comments like) 'Go and die, you're disgusting, go away'. I've been thinking about that myself. Thanks for giving birth to me, mum."
She apologised for not having the mental fortitude to carry on, in suicide notes found in her home.
Communications Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, following bipartisan calls for stronger protections against cyber bullying, that laws will be revised to annul the right to privacy for deemed perpetrators of online slander and harassment. "Such anonymous acts of slander and abuse are not just cowardly, however, utterly unforgivable," she said.
Existing laws allow victims to apply to court for such information, however, the process is long-drawn and expensive and the judge may not rule in the victim's favour.
They can also ask Internet providers for the information, however, in several cases this is not granted, given the high threshold as to what goes beyond freedom of expression and constitutes abuse.
The proposed revision will skip these processes in hopes of achieving more timely intervention.
Still, Japan has been behind the curve in updating laws for the Internet age. It took a savage stabbing attack on pop idol Mayu Tomita in May 2016, leaving her nearly blind in her left eye and with 34 stab wounds, for stricter laws against cyber stalking to be implemented.
Ms Kimura's death triggered an outpouring of grief, with the hashtag "hibo chusho" (name-calling and abuse) the top trending topic on Twitter over the weekend.
She joined Terrace House last September, and became a target of abuse on social media for her outspoken behaviour, especially after a March episode when she lost her temper with a male cast member.
He had accidentally shrunk her expensive wrestling costume by leaving it in the dryer with his clothes, and Ms Kimura yelled at him to be more considerate.
Entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa, who founded the fashion site Zozo, has denounced the act of online slander as "a narcotic".
He said: "If done even once, it will prompt more extreme abuse that will only continue to damage the person until it is stopped... I'm saddened by how people are made to grin and bear it while they suffer."
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Monday that it was critical to raise online literacy to deter such abuse.
Justice Minister Masako Mori said yesterday: "Online slander only serves to induce even more similar messages, and this is a serious violation of human rights."
The consortium of social media networks, including Facebook, Twitter and Line, said it will be more proactive in banning abusive users and will provide information upon request.
Dr Emi Kataoka, a sociologist at Komazawa University in Tokyo, told The Straits Times that bullying in Japan starts in school, and continues into the workplace with a slew of harassment issues.
Digital platforms, she said, serve only as a conduit to further the vitriol under the veil of anonymity.
"In a country that values conformity, anyone who stands out is susceptible to bullying," she said. "Those who are bullied tend not to voice their suffering or seek help. And if they do, they get ostracised and blamed even further."