Via the Economist, The Tokyo municipal government is now considering extending their child pornography laws to protect “non-existent minors” in order to fight child porn in manga, anime, and video games, following a precedent set in the US. And the cherry on top?
“The push for tighter rules is led by Shintaro Ishihara, the conservative governor of Tokyo, who made his name in the 1950s as the author of salacious novels, involving sex among minors, that his own legislation might outlaw.”
Ahh, well I certainly understand the motivation – but on the other hand, I do worry that there will be a countervailing trend to replace lolicon/shotacon manga with, you know, actual child porn.
Beyond that, Japan (the government and news media, anyway) has a history of treating victims of its own social pathologies with paranoia, and indeed of blaming them for utterly unrelated problems. This seems of a piece with other otaku panics.Report
Yeah, it’s an understandable urge I suppose. My first thought, though, was how in the world would they enforce something like that? I’d probably have wound up in jail at age 13 for the drawings I made myself of girls in my class. And then there’s the question of criminalizing fiction. Not to mention the internet throwing a wrench in the works. I do think they’ll pass the law, but not that it’ll protect actual children.Report