Petition for removal of “REGULATION OF DANCE”
Do you know that dancing is against the law?
We the undersigned would like to bring your attention that, today in Japan, dancing is regulated by the law of entertainment andamusement trades, which permits dancing only when many restrictions are satisfied. In spite of the purpose of this law to maintain an
ethical behavior of amusement and entertainment, dancing is treated as if it were against this purpose. Is dancing destructing the ethicalbehavior of amusement?

Rock and Hip-hop dances are compulsory subjects in junior high school education
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has introduced dance as a compulsory subject (Physical Education)in junior high school from 2012. In teaching, “dancing is physical activity for young and old, men and women, people of all ages,” and it
considers “expressing and dancing as producing a great opportunity to communicate with friends.” Furthermore, the Ministry plans thedance classes to “combine the rhythm of rock music and Hip-hop,” then “form environment where everyone becomes willing to dance.”
Dance culture is gaining civic rights in many countries. Even the Olympics have employed Disc Jockeys to play dance music in their
opening ceremony. Nightclubs are places for economic as well as social activities (such as employment opportunities, consumption ofgoods and human communications) through means of dancing. There are countries and cities, including but certainly not limited to,Berlin, Germany, which has incorporated dance to develop the city and attract visitors as a city policy.

Please keep freedom of expression, art and culture of the constitutional security

Today’s law on entertainment and amusement trades was established in 1948, shortly after World War Ⅱ, for the purpose of preventionof prostitution. While the Ministry of Education legislates for teaching dance in schools, it is contradictory that dancing is still against
the law. Nightclubs are the places for people to meet and communicate each other through music and dancing: they are the places ofpeople who are all trying to eliminate drugs and violence; they are the places where so many great artists have been produced; they arethe places where people are creating new cultures. For so many reasons, therefore, we petition the following articles:

Petition
Please delete “dancing” from the subject of regulation under the law of the entertainment and amusement trades.
Please apply properly originated in Interpretation investment criterion, supplementary resolution of the national assembly( the House of Representatives 1984…), Please maintain the freedom of expression, art and culture.

Agreed upon by the following people:
Mr. Ryuichi Sakamoto (Musician) , Mr. Yoshihide Otomo (Musician), Mr. Seikou Ito (Writer, Creator)
Mr. Kensyo Onuki(Music critic, DJ), Mr. Masahiro Hidaka (Fuji Rockfestival, SMASH), Mr. Naoki Shimizu(Summer Sonic,Creativeman Pro),Mr. Mashine Harada(ADHIP), Mr. Tetsu Tatehata (Art critic), Mr. Atsuhiko Suwa(Film director, Tokyo University ofArt and Design president), Mr. Katsuhiko Imamura(Creation dance Group sponsorship), Mr. Kazuo Nakamura(Lawyer)
Signature
NameAddress【Sponsoring Organization】
Kyoto music center Nishinokyo Reisen-cho 118-3 Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto 604-8481, Japan
Let's DANCE Signature promotion committee.
URL: http://www.letsdance.jp/
MAIL: mail@letsdance.jp<How to send the petition>* Please send the original copy (duplicate copies and faxes are not accepted) to the above sponsoring organization.
* Please include a note indicating how many signatures are included when sending the sheet(s).
* The petition will be sent to the Government and the National Diet of Japan; it will not be used for any other purpose.