Japan Clamps Down on Ownership of some Porn Images

[fountainhall]

ItтАЩs pretty well known by those who spend any time in Japan that porn is everywhere, especially being read on the subway and suburban trains. Porn manga are especially popular. But since it is a cardinal rule in Japanese society that you never encroach on anyone elseтАЩs space, readers are essentially in their own little orbit. In a crowded carriage where you are packed like sardines, some may look at what another is reading, but they do not see. ItтАЩs not their business.

ItтАЩs also pretty clear that some Japanese have a fascination for under-age porn that involves abuse. Now, though, Japan has finally banned the ownership of such images, the last of the 34 OECD countries to do so. (The production and distribution of child porn was actually banned in 1999 but not ownership till now).

According to the BBCтАЩs website, there was major opposition to the parliamentary bill from various sources, including free-speech advocates and publishers. In typically Japanese fashion some arguments ran like this -


Opponents of the bill . . . said it would impinge on freedom of expression and allow authorities to make arbitrary decisions about art. The Japan Magazine Publishers' Association, which represents over 90 publishing companies, posted a statement on its website earlier in June saying the law could "put a strain" on artists and publishing culture.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27898841

Freedom of expression? Art? Strain on artists? Publishing culture? Unfortunately, the publishers of the widely read manga comics actually won their case. Their products will not come under the ban. So commuters will no doubt continue to read such volumes on their way to work (most sleep on the way home!) and those who sneak peaks will continue to pretend that they are in fact the works of William Shakespeare :-o

[lego]

Freedom of expression? Art? Strain on artists? Publishing culture? Unfortunately, the publishers of the widely read manga comics actually won their case.
Where to draw the line with works of fiction is ultimately a question of taste. I find certain manga comics distasteful, so I wouldn't buy them or read them, but I'm all for allowing them to be published. Precisely because they're merely a work of fiction. Whether it's art or distasteful crap is in the eyes of the beholder, so the decision should rest with the individual. I think it's important to distinguish between real child porn (it's impossible to produce it without abusing children, so their right to be unharmed beats any freedom of expression argument its producers could come up with) on the one hand and comics on the other hand. Apparently, Japan's lawmakers/courts are able to make this important distinction, and I wouldn't exactly call that "unfortunate".

[fountainhall]

Where to draw the line with works of fiction is ultimately a question of taste. I find certain manga comics distasteful, so I wouldn't buy them or read them, but I'm all for allowing them to be published
I totally agree with your comments about manga and works of fiction. There was a famous censorship case in the UK (which around 1960 still required censorship of printed material) when the state claimed that the unexpurgated version of the D H Lawrence novel "Lady Chatterly's Lover" was pornographic and therefore banned. Thanks to a crusading publisher, it was not. It was also a sign of changing times that the chief prosecutor was ridiculed when he asked if it were the kind of book "you would wish your wife or servants to read"!

I am far less convinced by the case for permitting manga dealing exclusively with child porn, especially when these also contain abusive images, as permitted under the new law. But that may just be personal dislike.