"The Law for the Prevention of Spousal Violence and the Protection of Victims" went into force on October 13, 2001 (some articles were taken effect in April 2002). The law provides for spousal violence counseling, support centers and protection orders and etc..

Protection Orders
A protection order is a measure ordered by a court upon petition from a victim against the victim's spouse who is the assailant. The order provides for two kinds of measures; an order to prohibit the approach that prohibits the spouse from approaching the victim for a period of six months; and an order to vacate that requires the spouse to vacate the domicile that the spouse shares as legal home with the victim for a period of two weeks. According to statistics by the Supreme Court, 1,597 petitions for protection orders were received during the period following enforcement of the law on October 13, 2001 up until the end of December 2002, and orders were issued in 1,250 of these cases. The average period of time required before an order is issued was eleven days.

Spousal Violence Counseling and Support Center (SV Center)
In April 2002, prefectural governments launched services through Spousal Violence Counseling and Support Centers established within Women's Counseling Offices or other appropriate facilities. At present, 102 facilities function as SV Center to offer services such as consultation, counseling, temporary protection for victims and accompanying family members and the provision of various kinds of information. In the nine-month period from April through the end of December, 2002, SV Center throughout Japan handled a total of 26,973 consultations.

Enlightenment and Training
The Cabinet Office actively publicizes the situation in terms of spousal violence and systems to assist victims. Moreover, in an effort to enhance counselors' skills, the Cabinet Office conducts training sessions for counselors and other concerned staff, and has compiled relevant training materials into a Handbook on Counseling that can be used for training courses held by local governments and so forth.

The Headquarters for the Promotion of Gender Equality conducts a campaign for eliminating violence against women over the two-week period from November 12 to 25 (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women) each year. The campaign aims to educate citizens and raise social awareness of violence against women in cooperation/collaboration with local public bodies and other related organizations. The symbol for elimination of violence against women adopted by the Cabinet Office in 2002 was widely used, and a variety of events were undertaken. The Cabinet Office held a Symposium on Violence against Women on November 25, 2002, in conjunction with this campaign. Attended by approximately 400 individuals from throughout Japan, the symposium comprised keynote lectures on spousal violence and prostitution, and a panel discussion on the trafficking of women.

Approximately 400 people from regions throughout Japan attended the Symposium on Violence against Women (November 2002)

The Symbol for Elimination of Violence against Women

In June 2002, the Cabinet Office adopted a symbol for elimination of violence against women, in the form of spousal violence, sexual crimes, prostitution, sexual harassments, stalking behavior and so forth. The symbol was created by Prof. Yukio Ohta of Tama Art University, by modifying designs solicited from the public. The symbol depicts a woman with crossed arms, and the facial expression, clenched fists and crossed arms of the woman express determination to firmly oppose violence against women. The symbol will be widely used at events held to raise social awareness of violence against women.

With regard to the ratio of female members of national advisory councils and committees, based on a decision "Promotion of the appointment of women to national advisory councils and committees" adopted by the Headquarters for the Promotion of Gender Equality in August 2000, the Government is pressing ahead with measures to achieve the goal of 30% participation rate as early as possible before the end of 2005. The Gender Equality Bureau of the Cabinet Office conducts regular annual surveys of the status of women's participation in national advisory councils and committees, and according to the survey of September 30, 2002, the ratio of female members stood at 25.0%, marking a small increase over the 24.7% reported in the survey of September 30, 2001. The Government makes use of various opportunities to request cabinet ministries to cooperate by actively appointing female members towards achieving this goal before the end of 2005.