Tokyo Metropolitan Government To Resubmit Revised Anime/Manga Regulation Law

by dtshyk
Nov 19, 2010 10:59 PM | 65 Comments

According to Asahi news, the Governor of Tokyo decided to resubmit the proposal for the regulation of anime and manga to the metropolitan assembly. The local government removed the controversial term "fictitious juveniles" from the bill and limits the objects of the regulation to "criminal sexual acts (eg. rape) and extremely immoral acts (eg. incest)" irrespectively of the age or the appearance of the characters. Anime and manga which have such expressions will be prohibited from being sold to minors under 18. Some members of the assembly have already showed approval for the new proposal.

The previous proposal was rejected last June because the ambiguous expressions "fictitious juveniles (anime/manga characters which look under 18)", "positive descriptions of extreme sexual acts" could violate the freedom of expression.

Source: Asahi

20 of 65 Comments Recent Comments

geyik said:
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/11/21/tokyo-loli-ban-now-total-hentai-ban/
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/02/28/tokyo-faces-loli-ban/

things are not limited to tokyo, indeed

After reading that, it strikes me that, without reading the bill as it currently stands, how explicitly these acts have to be depicted to be caught up in the legislation could have a pretty heavy impact. Do they have to -show- incest, or just imply it? How "far" is too far? Kissing? Groping? More?

Eep, if it's too vague or too broad, does this mean Shana is going to be reclassified as AO material? Some of those crimson denizens, well... y'know. XD

Granted... their relationship was... rather disturbing, which I suspect was intended.

Nov 22, 2010 6:56 PM by bdxcr

The original proposal was ridiculous, but this seems reasonable to me. Sounds like it's less strict than the laws regarding minors purchasing media in a lot of other countries right now (including the US).

Nov 22, 2010 6:38 PM by therubicon

you mean they do sell pornographic materials to under 18s on Japan?

I thought that there was some kind of R18 etc laws in Japan

Nov 22, 2010 6:13 PM by Snwoto

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/11/21/tokyo-loli-ban-now-total-hentai-ban/
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/02/28/tokyo-faces-loli-ban/

things are not limited to tokyo, indeed

Nov 22, 2010 12:28 AM by geyik

Heh, looks good in paper only.

Nov 21, 2010 4:05 PM by hikari2905

Catalano said:
what to say, it's just a law to protect the minors from buying, not from watching or reading.
Catalano

slippery slope my friend, slippery slope

Nov 21, 2010 9:07 AM by AnvilMAn

what to say, it's just a law to protect the minors from buying, not from watching or reading.
Catalano

Nov 21, 2010 8:19 AM by Catalano

what to say, it's just a law to protect the minors from buying, not from watching or reading.
Catalano

Nov 21, 2010 8:19 AM by Catalano

ph4zr said:

ukonkivi said:

dtshyk said:
extremely immoral acts (eg. incest)"

Oh. Shut. Up.

lol. In this day and age, a "moral"* issue is about all it is (or at least, should be). There are a multitude of measures to prevent inbreeding, not to mention at least -some- manner of genetic testing, failing that.

*Of course, morality is largely subjective anyway, and criminalizing (a lack of) certain morals is... well, another issue.

I love the statement in FMA Brotherhood that what is moral an what not depends on the time you life in. In Germany there is an incest couple, a brother and a sister, and they love each other and have children (sick, of course). The father/brother spends most of his time in jail for this, bot, oh well. How can love be immoral if both sides share the same feelings, despte of age, gender, race or is they are family (even if I din't understand this). I think it's more about "sick people won't be able to pay taxes" than "poor chidren" and "immorality".

Nov 21, 2010 7:25 AM by Crochax

Wait so did i read this wrong? or am I just going nuts?
So up until now kids over in that country could waltz into a store and by porn without getting in trouble?No ass wooping when you got caught?No taking away all your video game and everything you love?No ass wooping!!? O.o

Nov 21, 2010 7:04 AM by Angra-Mainyu

when i first read about the proposal, i was like "WTF?! don't tell me it WAS legal for minors to patronize hentai!"..

well, i'm 19, and i don't really like too much sexuality in anime/manga... fanservice excluded, depending on how much nudity...

then again, i'm from some (hypocritically) moral country named Philippines, so i'm like that...

Nov 21, 2010 4:11 AM by agent535

pfft only reason theyre doing this is because the gov of tokyo or some kind of elected offical write graphic porn books so he is trying to eliminate the competition.

Nov 21, 2010 2:51 AM by AnvilMAn

rolddy said:

Tatanium said:
I really don't care. I don't like rape or incest anime.

SO does most of us here on MAL

I really doubt that

Nov 21, 2010 12:58 AM by eyerok

ukonkivi said:

dtshyk said:
extremely immoral acts (eg. incest)"

Oh. Shut. Up.

Slykain said:
Yesh! I love this [for real]. No more phedophilia!

Regardless of whether or not some forms of art/expression offend my senses, I'd just as soon not go down the path of legally regulating what people can and can't say, for hopefully obvious reasons. Luckily, this isn't that.

In other words: As someone before me once said, that confusion has already been cleared up. It's actually the other way around—assuming by "phedophilia" you meant "pedophilia", and by "pedophilia" you actually meant "loli/shotacon"—it's legal to make and sell, just not to minors (if this goes through).

Iisan-kun said:

Eternal_Shield said:

wow it was legal in the first place ?

Lolicon? Yes.
I'm almost certain it's legal in the States too.

I think technically it's legal, but unless there have been some major changes in the last few years, I think they'll still probably try and get you under obscenities in many cases if you do get caught. Where, of course, "obscene" is defined by a community of peers, but I don't think "anime/manga" enthusiasts are quite what they mean by that...

Nov 20, 2010 9:37 PM by bdxcr

Iisan-kun said:

Eternal_Shield said:

wow it was legal in the first place ?

Lolicon? Yes.
I'm almost certain it's legal in the States too.

Actually, in the US it has been basically illegal since 2003. It is not protected if it is considered legally obscene, and unless you can prove the image has "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value" then it is illegal and punishable by jailtime even if it just appears to be a minor. You might think that could be an easy defense, but there have been multiple convictions of people who have been caught downloading loli pron or simply taken computers containing it over state lines.

Nov 20, 2010 9:28 PM by saka

Yesh! I love this [for real]. No more phedophilia!

Nov 20, 2010 9:08 PM by Slykain

dtshyk said:
extremely immoral acts (eg. incest)"

Oh. Shut. Up.

Nov 20, 2010 7:27 PM by ukonkivi

herox3 said:

MadDogV2 said:
If so, what difference does that make for us...

me thought that as well too.
People nowadays didnt look for genres and rated. Even it's cleared R-18 or something they would still buy it. By they is those underages. Also Hentai animes. no I mean can they can stop them from buying? D|

Nov 20, 2010 7:22 PM by BRabbit

Same as the last one, legal buyers are not affected, only the active producers or creators of the related interest feel pressured.
These books should have been labeled as harmful, only in Japan they are that loose.

Nov 20, 2010 7:21 PM by bottle

Huh? Minors aren't supposed to be able to buy them right now anyway, right?
The hell? O.o

Nov 20, 2010 7:09 PM by isikaru

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