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Paper short abstract

This presentation compares hate speech cases in Japan and Europe, focusing on the “JAPANESE ONLY” banner and a European court case. It shows that words can become hate speech because of history, place, repetition, and who says them, even if the words are not clearly hateful.

Paper long abstract

In 2014, an incident occurred in Japan's professional soccer league (J.League) where supporters of the Urawa Reds (club team) displayed a banner during a match bearing the English words “JAPANESE ONLY,” which was deemed hate speech.

Around the same time, in 2013, during an international soccer match held in Croatia, Josip Šimunić, a prominent Croatian soccer player, was penalized for inciting hatred based on race, ethnicity, or religion. This occurred after the match when he repeatedly shouted “For Home!” to the crowd, who responded with “Ready!” Josip Šimunić challenged the Croatian domestic court's ruling, arguing it violated Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights, and appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (Josip Šimunić v. Croatia). The European Court of Human Rights, while acknowledging that the expression “For Home” might not be inherently discriminatory in a dictionary or cultural sense, emphasized: ① its historical symbolism linked to a totalitarian regime, ② the highly public setting of a soccer stadium, ③ its repetitive nature designed to provoke audience responses, and ④ the speaker's influential status as a prominent athlete. The Court concluded that the expression had the effect of inciting hatred.

The purpose of this presentation is to clarify the framework for determining whether speech constitutes hate speech by conducting a comparative legal analysis of Japanese and European cases. The key point of the European Court of Human Rights' judgment in the case of Josip Šimnić v. Croatia is its framework for assessment: evaluating not the abstract meaning of the expression's wording itself, but comprehensively considering the context, historical background, the speaker's position, and the audience's reaction. This framework provides important insights and lessons for examining Japan's “JAPANESE ONLY” banner incident.