A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE LEGAL TERM “AGE OF MAJORITY” IN JAPAN AND IN FRANCE

The age of majority in Japan was lowered from 20 to 18 on 1 April 2022 when a newly revised Civil Code came into effect. Japanese young people 18 years of age and older will now be able to make their own life choices and decisions in various social situations. At the same time, they will also have the responsibilities of adults. Various opinion polls, however, show a widespread lack of concrete understanding of people’s rights and responsibilities in Japan. This paper explores the meaning of the term 成年 seinen (age of majority) by com- paring the case of France on the basis of the French Civil Code in order to shed light on the legal and common meaning of “attaining adulthood.”