explained that the bus driver had no intention of "stirring up hate, however racist the comments were". Frustration at the low number of prosecutions (18 by 2011) was attributed to a misconception that the law addressed hate crimes more generally as opposed to incitement in particular. In 2013 the Constitutional Convention considered the constitutional prohibition of blasphemy, and recommended replacing it with a ban on incitement to religious hatred. This was endorsed by the Oireachtas, and in 2017 the Fine Gael-led government planned a referendum for October 2018. The referendum passed, with 64.85% of voters in favour of removing the law, a result which the Irish Times described "uniquely unanimous in recent years". Japan Japan does not have nationally enforced hate speech laws. Japanese law covers threats and slander, but it "does not apply to hate speech against general groups of people". Japan became a member of the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in 1995. Article 4 of the convention sets forth provisions calling for the criminalization of hate speech but the Japanese government has suspended the provisions, saying actions to spread or promote the idea of racial discrimination have not been taken in Japan to such an extent that legal action is necessary. The Foreign Ministry stated in 2013 that this assessment remained unchanged. In the same year, following demonstrations, parades, and comments posted on the Internet threatening violence against foreign residents of Japan, especially Koreans, there were concerns that hate speech was a growing problem in Japan. Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and Justice Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki expressed concerns about the increase in hate speech, saying that it "went completely against the nation's dignity", but stopped short of proposing any legal action against protesters. On 7 October 2013, in a rare ruling on racial discrimination against ethnic Koreans, a Japanese court ordered an anti-Korean group, Zaitokukai, to stop "hate speech" protests against a Korean school in Kyoto and pay the school 12.26 million yen ($126,400 U.S.) in compensation for protests that took place in 2009 and 2010. In May 2016 Japan passed a law dealing with hate speech. However, it did not ban hate speech and sets no penalty for committing it. Kawasaki City on July 6, 2020, began enforcing a first of its kind ordinance that penalizes people who repeatedly use hate speech in public spaces, with potential fines of