AI regulation in Japan: laws & policy (2026)
AI in Japan: comprehensive law.
Japan enacted its first dedicated national AI statute, the AI Promotion Act, on 28 May 2025, with full enforcement from September 2025. The law takes an innovation-first, light-touch approach: it sets basic principles, roles for the state, industry, academia and citizens, and creates an AI Strategy Headquarters chaired by the Prime Minister, but contains no penalties, no prohibitions and no mandatory conformity assessments — enforcement relies on administrative guidance, a 'name-and-shame' publication mechanism, and non-binding guidelines, backed by existing laws on personal data (APPI), copyright, consumer protection and sectoral regulation.
Legal framework
Act on Promotion of Research and Development, and Utilization of Artificial Intelligence-related Technology (AI Promotion Act, Act No. 47 of 2025), supplemented by the Cabinet-level AI Basic Plan, the AI Strategy Headquarters under the Prime Minister's Office, and METI/MIC AI Guidelines for Business
Key points: artificial intelligence in Japan
AI Promotion Act (2025)
Enacted 28 May 2025 and fully in force from September 2025, this is Japan's first AI-specific national law. It articulates basic principles (R&D competitiveness, systematic promotion, transparency on risks, international cooperation) and defines the duties of government, business, universities and citizens, but imposes no fines, bans or conformity assessments.
AI Strategy Headquarters & Basic Plan
The Act establishes an AI Strategy Headquarters in the Cabinet Office, chaired by the Prime Minister (first meeting 13 Sept 2025). The first AI Basic Plan was adopted by Cabinet on 23 December 2025 and replaced by a second Basic Plan on 14 July 2026 ('Japan AI Transformation'), covering AI deployment, development capacity, governance and societal uptake.
METI/MIC AI Guidelines for Business
The AI Guidelines for Business — jointly issued by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), with v1.1 in March 2025 and v1.2 on 31 March 2026 — are the central non-binding operational reference for AI developers, providers and users, covering governance, risk management, transparency and human oversight.
Enforcement by guidance and 'name and shame'
The AI Promotion Act has no criminal or administrative penalties; non-compliant operators can be publicly named by the government, and misuse is otherwise addressed through pre-existing binding law (APPI, Copyright Act, Consumer Contract Act, antimonopoly, cybersecurity, sectoral financial/medical rules).
Copyright treatment of AI training (Art. 30-4)
Article 30-4 of the Copyright Act broadly permits use of copyrighted works for 'information analysis', including AI model training, provided the use is not for enjoying the expression and does not unreasonably prejudice rightsholders — one of the most permissive regimes globally — though output that substitutes for original works still requires a licence; the Agency for Cultural Affairs issued clarifying guidance in 2024.
International leadership: Hiroshima AI Process
Under its 2023 G7 presidency Japan launched the Hiroshima AI Process, producing the International Guiding Principles and the International Code of Conduct for Organizations Developing Advanced AI Systems — a voluntary G7 framework now a core pillar of Japan's international AI governance stance.
Timeline of decisions
- Guidance · officialCabinet approves first AI Basic Plan
The Cabinet adopted the Basic Plan for Artificial Intelligence ('Revitalizing Japan through Trustworthy AI'), the strategic blueprint mandated by the AI Promotion Act that sets four policy directions: accelerating AI use, strengthening development capacity, improving trustworthiness, and transforming society. It operationalizes the new statutory framework.
Cabinet Office (CAO)
- Law · officialAI Strategy Headquarters provisions take full effect
The provisions establishing the AI Strategy Headquarters, chaired by the Prime Minister with all Cabinet ministers as members, came fully into force, giving Japan a whole-of-government coordinating body for AI policy.
Government of Japan
- LawDiet passes the AI Promotion Act
Japan's Parliament enacted the Act on Promotion of Research and Development and Utilization of AI-Related Technologies, an 'innovation-first' fundamental law setting national principles and policy direction without imposing direct penalties on private actors.
White & Case
- Guidance · officialMETI/MIC publish AI Guidelines for Business v1.0
Japan's ministries consolidated prior guidance into unified non-binding guidelines defining roles for AI Developers, Providers, and Business Users, setting ten cross-sector principles and practical checklists, forming the core of Japan's soft-law regime ahead of legislation.
METI
- Guidance · officialAgency for Cultural Affairs issues 'General Understanding on AI and Copyright'
Following ~25,000 public comments, the Cultural Council's Legal Subcommittee clarified how the Article 30-4 training exception applies to generative AI, noting it does not cover uses that unreasonably prejudice rightsholders (e.g., style-imitating fine-tuning).
Agency for Cultural Affairs
- Guidance · officialG7 adopts Hiroshima Process International Code of Conduct
Under Japan's G7 presidency, leaders agreed the world's first international framework for advanced AI, including guiding principles and a voluntary code of conduct for organizations developing the most advanced foundation models and generative AI.
MIC (Hiroshima AI Process)
- Guidance · officialJapan launches the G7 Hiroshima AI Process
At the G7 Hiroshima Summit, Japan initiated a coordinated international process on generative AI governance, cementing its strategy of shaping global norms while pursuing light-touch domestic rules.
Government of Japan
- Guidance · officialMIC releases AI Utilization Guidelines
Building on its R&D principles, Japan published non-binding guidelines for AI users that helped implement the OECD AI Principles and extended the country's multi-stakeholder soft-law model from developers to deployers.
OECD.AI
- Guidance · officialGovernment adopts Social Principles of Human-Centric AI
Japan's Cabinet-level council issued seven foundational principles (human-centric, education, privacy, security, fair competition, fairness/accountability/transparency, innovation), establishing the soft-law value framework that underpins all later AI policy.
Cabinet Secretariat
- Guidance · officialMIC releases Draft AI R&D Guidelines for International Discussions
Through the Conference toward AI Network Society, Japan published nine non-binding R&D principles intended to feed G7/OECD debates, an early foundational document that seeded both Japan's domestic governance and the 2019 OECD AI Principles.
MIC
Sources
- gov-online.go.jp/hlj/en/november_2025/november_2025-08.html
- oecd.ai/en/dashboards/policy-initiatives/act-on-promotion-of-research,-develo
- www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/ai/ai_plan/aiplan_eng_20260714.pdf
- oecd.ai/en/dashboards/policy-initiatives/ai-basic-plan
- whitecase.com/insight-alert/japans-first-ai-legislation-becomes-law-focus-promoting
- fpf.org/blog/understanding-japans-ai-promotion-act-an-innovation-first-bluepr
- aigovernance.com/entry/japan-ai-guidelines-for-business-meti
- soumu.go.jp/hiroshimaaiprocess/en/documents.html
- bunka.go.jp/english/policy/copyright/pdf/94055801_01.pdf
- digital.nemko.com/regulations/ai-regulation-japan
- regulayer.com/laws/japan-ai-promotion-act
- techpolicy.press/ai-training-and-copyright-infringement-solutions-from-asia/
- digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/g7-leaders-statement-hiroshima-ai-process
Next for Japan: Data & PrivacyComprehensive law
Next topicOrientation, not legal advice: verify against the primary sources linked above. Last verified 9 Oct 2026. Methodology & how to cite · State of Technology Regulation 2026