Possession of materials depicting child pornography is now illegal in Japan with the approval of an anti-child pornography law on Wednesday. The law, 10 years in the making, punishes offenders with up to one year and a day in jail or a fine of up to $10,000. Although possession of materials portraying children in sexual positions are now deemed illegal, explicit anime or manga is still considered legal.
Prior to the bill's approval, Japan punishes producers and distributors of child pornography but not owners of pornographic material depicting children. Shihoko Fujiwara, an activist with Lighthouse, a non-profit charity group that assists exploited children, considers the new law a move towards the right direction in Japan's part. "It's been 10 years and it's finally changed. I'm so pleased that Japan finally moved one step toward the international standard," he says.
The new anti-child pornography law, however, does not include anime or manga depicting sexual content with minors and teens. The bill excludes explicit anime as well as its producers and distributors. The decision, according to Daisuke Okeda, a lawyer and spokesperson for the Japan Animation Creators Association, was "natural"; any attempt to censor explicit manga, he says, would be a restriction of the freedom of expression. "Banning such expression in animation under this law would not satisfy the goal of the law," he adds.
Meanwhile, according to Hiroshi Chiba of Chiba Tetsuya Production, a manga production company, certain provisions may still be considered to distinguish explicit manga from other forms of non-explicit anime. He, along with Okeda, also oppose making possession of explicit anime a punishable offense.
According to a survey conducted in 2013 by the US State Department, Japan is an international hub for production of child pornography and child trafficking in South East Asia. Supporting data provided by Japanese intelligence shows that of 1,596 cases of child pornography, 1,264 of them involved child victims. Results further imply that child pornography is a highly controversial social issue in Japan.
Current owners of pornographic material depicting child have as little as one year to dispose of their collection.
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