112WATCH interviews Teppei Kasai from Human Rights Watch in Japan on Japan’s position regarding lèse-majesté law in Thailand
In this interview, Teppei Kasai, Senior Program Officer at Human Rights Watch, discusses Japan's foreign policy and regional human rights in Southeast Asia. He explains that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration prioritizes economic and security partnerships over calling out rights abuses, fearing that publicly condemning countries like Thailand for crackdowns under laws like Article 112 would push them toward China.
July 13, 2026
To combat transnational repression and cross-border persecutions, Kasai highlights the need for urgent public pressure and international protection. Finally, he stresses that civil society platforms like HRW and 112Watch must continue rigorous local-language reporting and strategically embed human rights discussions into core business and national security dialogues to drive concrete policy action in democracies like Japan.
Read the interview below –
