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| Magical Girl Pretty Sammy by AIC |
Last November, Republic Act No. 9775 was signed into law. This anti-child pornography act criminalized, among other things, "computer-generated, digitally or manually crafted images or graphics of a person who is represented or who is made to appear to be a child as defined herein." In Japan the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly (link via ANN; translation here and here) is now deliberating on voting for their own version of an anti-child pornography bill this coming June. Canned Dogs has translated part of the proposed legislation as "Any character that regardless of actual age has an appearance of being under 18, and has a possibility of causing youths to lust for or possibility of bringing this fantasy to real life, will have to be censored." Various manga creators have responded in opposition to the bill, including Ashita no Joe/Tomorrow’s Joe artist Tetsuya Chiba, Doraemon creator Fujiko Fujio, Moto Hagio, Rumiko Takahashi, Machiko Satonaka, and Go Nagai. Several appeared in front of the Tokyo government offices to release a signed statement on March 15 (via Kotaku; tr here) expressing their protest of the bill. Yoshitoshi ABe, in a separate statement, described the bill as "...an unconstitutional and ridiculous piece of legislation. I’m not talking about children’s books. I mean mass market publications, anime, games, and all manners of works. Both Doraemon and Sazae-san are right out!" He goes on to say:
Humankind has been entrusted with much power, but if we abuse that power to do away with things that we do not like, then thinking in that way, we will give birth to this sterilized room kind of society. The purpose of freedom of speech, in my opinion, is to defend against precisely that sort of thing.
Discussion of the proposed legislation has been predictably polarized. For a more nuanced take on the issue, there is Roland Kelts. In the end he comes down on the side of ABe:
“Pedophiles frequently use realistic cartoon depictions to indoctrinate their child victims to persuade them that such [sexual] acts are okay,” says Jake Adelstein, author of Tokyo Vice and a board member of Polaris Project Japan, an organization that combats human trafficking in Japan and the sexual exploitation of women and children. “When this stuff is legal, you’re giving pedophiles a weapon.”
But is it the fault of manga and anime artists that their work is being appropriated by criminals? Hollywood films regularly glamorize war—but are wars Hollywood’s fault? And if manga and anime depictions of youthful sexuality are outlawed in Japan and the United States, will that really deter pedophiles?
I also lean towards this position. This is a highly sensitive and emotionally charged issue. But I'm skeptical about whether the enforcement of such overly-strict laws are necessary or will have the desired net effect of deterring child abuse; but I'm also weary of simplistic cause and effect arguments often used to justify them.
Update: Simon Jones has linked to a pretty comprehensive article on the proposed legislation, known in Japan as hijitsuzai seishounen. It separates what isn't banned (material already marked 18+) from what is banned (non-pornographic manga, anime, games, movies for all demographic groups), and the groups pushing for this law (the usual coalition of Parent-Teacher Associations, militant feminists and conservative Christians). What is particularly disturbing is how broad the ban would be if it takes effect.
Part 1
