[QUOTE]Yielding to years of pressure to fall in line with the rest of the developed world, Japan’s Parliament outlawed the possession of child pornography on Wednesday. But the new law left untouched the nation’s popular and sometimes sexually explicit manga comics as well as other portrayals of young girls as objects of sexual desire.
By an overwhelming margin, lawmakers from the governing and opposition parties joined to pass the legislation to close a loophole in a 1999 law that had banned the production and distribution of child pornography. While the older law did remove much child pornography from public view, critics including prominent conservative politicians have lamented that Japan was the only member of groups of developed nations like the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or O.E.C.D., that still allowed its possession.
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The exemption in the new law for the popular comics, and also of Japan’s “anime” animated cartoons, was a concession to the nation’s powerful publishing and entertainment industries. It also leaves untouched a vast gray area in which young girls are depicted in sexually suggestive ways. This includes everything from images of the all-girl bands of Japanese pop music posing in lingerie and bikinis, to fantasy illustrations with the faces of prepubescent girls atop the scantily clad bodies of voluptuous adults.
Such images attest to Japan’s more casual social attitudes when it comes to the sexual objectification of women of all ages, and also toward the consumption of pornography itself. (Reflecting those attitudes, the passage of the law barely merited a mention on the nightly news.)
Manga comics with graphic illustrations of sex are sold in neighborhood convenience stores and on train station platforms, and until the proliferation of smartphones, it was common to see men openly reading the comics and magazines featuring nude women while commuting to work.
The fascination with the sexuality of young girls even has its own name in Japanese, “rorikon” — which stands for the “Lolita complex” — and is on prominent display in Tokyo’s Akihabara shopping district, one of the city’s top tourist draws. Foreign visitors and locals can be seen there ogling explicit manga-derived posters, shirts and even small plastic dolls of young girls with highly exaggerated hourglass figures. The new law on child pornography is partly the result of a push by the Japanese police, who said that the failure to outlaw possession in the 1999 law had created enough continuing demand that the number of criminal cases involving the production and circulation of child pornography skyrocketed. That number jumped tenfold since 2000, to 1,644 cases last year, according to the National Police Agency.
The police efforts on legislation had been blocked, however, by the nation’s publishing houses, which feared that manga — including illustrated depictions of naked or nearly naked prepubescent girls, sometimes engaged in explicit sexual acts — would be included in the ban. The popularity of manga comics has mitigated the decline of a publishing industry hit hard by falling sales because of competition from the Internet.
Political leaders explain the exemption for manga by saying the depictions are imaginary and do not victimize actual children. They also said they opposed curtailing artistic expression.
“While there are concerns that such illustrations might encourage the viewing of children as sexual objects, freedom of expression is also an important issue,” the top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, said Wednesday.
However, there has also been growing frustration at the central government’s refusal to pass a more sweeping ban. Three years ago, the city of Tokyo imposed its own prohibition on the sale of sexually suggestive material involving children, which the city’s governor at the time, Shintaro Ishihara, said encouraged pedophilia. But even that ban did not include less well-defined areas, such as the popular genre of “junior idols,” often 12- and 13-year-old girls who are photographed in sexually suggestive poses for magazines.
While some questions remain about what will actually be deemed pornographic under the law, lawmakers said the aim was to ban sexually explicit photographs and videos showing actual children. Possession of such materials will be punished with a prison term of up to one year, and a fine of up to about $10,000.
The new law, which is expected to go into effect next month, will give violators a one-year grace period to get rid of pornographic images before they will be prosecuted.[/QUOTE]
[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/19/world/asia/japan-bans-possession-of-child-pornography-after-years-of-pressure.html[/url]
before someone asks: drawings don't count
I'm sure the majority of Japan's 'Child Pornography' is drawings anyway, so my guess is that this won't change shit.
Nothing wrong with this, good for them.
I'd like to see if abuse goes up or falls after this, it'd be quite interesting to see some actual statistics.
Better late than never I guess
They should just do a nationwide check for pedophilia every week, possession of child porn = execution
Loli pedo shit = put on sex offender list
No black market will be created because all the pedophiles will be dead.
[QUOTE=Marconi;45235476]They should just do a nationwide check for pedophilia every week, possession of child porn = execution
Loli pedo shit = put on sex offender list
No black market will be created because all the pedophiles will be dead.[/QUOTE]
You do know paedophilia is an actual mental condition right and you shouldn't demonise them as evil people because many of them are not even sex-offenders or ever touch a child. Most live their lives in fear and unable to seek help for what they find attractive due to the nature of society.
Paedophile =/= Child Molester
it wasn't already?
isn't that standard for it in all countries to be banned?
[QUOTE=Marconi;45235476]They should just do a nationwide check for pedophilia every week, possession of child porn = execution
Loli pedo shit = put on sex offender list
No black market will be created because all the pedophiles will be dead.[/QUOTE]
What happens when someone makes a virus that places CP on a random location on your harddrive, and then sends a email notifying the feds/mass emailing your contacts from your PC? Should they all be executed? How do you prove it was said virus, and does that virus become an excuse when caught?
I don't think you thought this through.
[QUOTE=ZestyLemons;45235536]What happens when someone makes a virus that places CP on a random location on your harddrive, and then sends a email notifying the feds/mass emailing your contacts from your PC? Should they all be executed? How do you prove it was said virus, and does that virus become an excuse when caught?
I don't think you thought this through.[/QUOTE]
A small price to pay in the fight against pedophilia
i love how people think that the two are the same. They're really not, marconi.
[QUOTE=ViralHatred;45235519]You do know paedophilia is an actual mental condition right and you shouldn't demonise them as evil people because many of them are not even sex-offenders or ever touch a child. Most live their lives in fear and unable to seek help for what they find attractive due to the nature of society.
Paedophile =/= Child Molester[/QUOTE]
I'd imagine that most pedophiles go completely unnoticed. It bothers me that they are demonized for the same reasons. Most people I've met (not that this topic comes up often) say that they should all be killed, and I'm completely baffled that so many people would advocate something so inhumane.
I think pedophiles should indulge in self-loathing until they kill themselves, I couldn't really care less about the moral implications of this, but that's how I feel.
This also includes Lolicons.
[QUOTE=The Baconator;45235401]before someone asks: drawings don't count[/QUOTE]
Um yeah it does. Don't believe me, then take a look of this.
[QUOTE]Child pornography may use a variety of media, including writings, magazines, photos, sculpture, [b]drawing,[/b] [b]cartoon,[/b] painting, animation, sound recording, film, video, and video games.[/QUOTE]
[URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_pornography"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_pornography[/URL]
[QUOTE=varg666;45235590]Um yeah it does. Don't believe me, then take a look of this.
[URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_pornography"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_pornography[/URL][/QUOTE]
I think he meant in Japan, not in general.
[QUOTE=Shreddinger;45235587]I think pedophiles should indulge in self-loathing until they kill themselves, I couldn't really care less about the moral implications of this, but that's how I feel.
This also includes Lolicons.[/QUOTE]
I think Zoophiles should indulge in self-loathing until they kill themselves, I couldn't really care less about the moral implications of this, but that's how I feel.
This also includes Furries and Bronies.
[QUOTE=Sir Drone;45235614]I think Zoophiles should indulge in self-loathing until they kill themselves, I couldn't really care less about the moral implications of this, but that's how I feel.
This also includes Furries and Bronies.[/QUOTE]
Someone who understands ^
[QUOTE=varg666;45235590]Um yeah it does. Don't believe me, then take a look of this.
[URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_pornography"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_pornography[/URL][/QUOTE]
They're talking about the law in japan this article is about.
[QUOTE=varg666;45235590]Um yeah it does. Don't believe me, then take a look of this.
[URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_pornography"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_pornography[/URL][/QUOTE]
[quote=the source]But the new law left untouched the nation’s popular and sometimes sexually explicit manga comics as well as other portrayals of young girls as objects of sexual desire.[/quote]
Even if people do consider it counting as kiddy porn, it's not counted in this law.
[QUOTE=varg666;45235590]Um yeah it does. Don't believe me, then take a look of this.
[URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_pornography"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_pornography[/URL][/QUOTE]
Read the article?
[Quote=The Article]
Political leaders explain the exemption for manga by saying the depictions are imaginary and do not victimize actual children. They also said they opposed curtailing artistic expression.
“While there are concerns that such illustrations might encourage the viewing of children as sexual objects, freedom of expression is also an important issue,” the top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, said Wednesday.[/Quote]
Manga & Anime is a fairly large industry over there afterall.
[QUOTE=Shreddinger;45235587]I think pedophiles should indulge in self-loathing until they kill themselves, I couldn't really care less about the moral implications of this, but that's how I feel.
This also includes Lolicons.[/QUOTE]
That's so very dumb of you
[QUOTE=Twistshock;45235632]Read the article?[/QUOTE]
Yes, I've have read the whole article about it before you and the others reply to me (not trying to be rude or anything like that), just so you know.
edit: Really, I've read it.
[quote]Political leaders explain the exemption for manga by saying the depictions are imaginary and do not victimize actual children. They also said they opposed curtailing artistic expression.[/quote]
#basednihonkoku
kill all pedophiles imo
[QUOTE=DowntownTiger;45235684]kill all pedophiles imo[/QUOTE]
if killing solved all problems, humanity would be living in a golden age since its dawn :v:
Even if pedophiles killed themselves and were hunted down, it'd be impossible to get rid of them. Just fyi to those wanting that.
[QUOTE=Gwoodman;45235709]Even if pedophiles killed themselves and were hunted down, it'd be impossible to get rid of them. Just fyi to those wanting that.[/QUOTE]
Kill all humans
[QUOTE=Shreddinger;45235587]I think pedophiles should indulge in self-loathing until they kill themselves, I couldn't really care less about the moral implications of this, but that's how I feel.
This also includes Lolicons.[/QUOTE]
I think people who can not empathize with others' uncontrollable mental conditions should stop existing. People like you are what holds back society as a whole.
[QUOTE=Shreddinger;45235587]I think pedophiles should indulge in self-loathing until they kill themselves, I couldn't really care less about the moral implications of this, but that's how I feel.
This also includes Lolicons.[/QUOTE]
I think terrible posters should do this too.
Come on, chop chop.
[QUOTE=EcksDee;45235790]I think people who can not empathize with others' uncontrollable mental conditions should stop existing. People like you are what holds back society as a whole.[/QUOTE]
True that, but "people" that don't understand the notion of mental health and things they can't control aren't really people, just dirty stinkin' humies.
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