Japan might finally jail someone for possession of CP

[Todeswind]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/ ... 7H20120919

By Tomasz Janowski and Teppei Kasai
TOKYO | Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:11am EDT
(Reuters) - When police in Japan's old historic capital of Kyoto nabbed three men this summer for buying child pornography DVDs online, they made history: for the first time, someone in the country faces the possibility of jail time for possessing such material.

Japan is the only OECD nation that has not universally outlawed possession of child pornography and activists say the new, tougher local laws in Kyoto will not change that overnight.

With various manifestations of a fascination with the young and innocent as sex objects, from graphic versions of manga, or Japanese comics, to the "junior idol" industry featuring child models in bikinis, Japan has a considerable way to go to shed an image of pornographers' safe haven.

Out of Japan's 47 provinces, only Kyoto bans possession of child pornography and prescribes a jail sentence. Neighbouring Nara is the only other province to deem it a crime, but it has only financial penalties. It has arrested several people for possession of child pornography, but authorities could not give a number since several were charged with other crimes.

In 1999, Japan outlawed production and distribution of child pornography as well as possession with the intention to pass it on, and offenders could face fines and prison terms of up to five years. However, simple possession, without an intention to distribute, remains legal, except in Kyoto and Nara.

Kyoto's new ordinance that came into force in January imposes fines for possession of child pornography and introduces a penalty of up to one year in jail for buying or downloading such material.

"It will be a big wake-up call for the parliament," says UNICEF Japan spokesman Hiromasa Nakai.

But there may not be any quick action.

There is no national debate on the subject at the moment as major parties brace for general elections expected later this year. The ruling Democratic Party of Japan has reservations about extending the Kyoto law nationally, while the opposition is for it, lawmakers told Reuters.

TOO FAR

Sanae Takaichi, from the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, says the initiatives taken in Nara province, and later in Kyoto, inspired her to campaign for a possession ban at the national level.

"I've been trying to bring such local initiatives to state politics since Nara, my hometown, put the ordinance into effect following a tragedy in the prefecture where a little girl was killed by a child porn lover."

The Democrats, however, have argued that local initiatives were going too far and making owning child pornography a crime could lead to abuse of police powers and that investigators should focus on those who make and distribute the material.

They have also voiced concern that a blanket ban could be extended to comics and animation, which in turn could infringe on the freedom of expression.

A rare endorsement for tougher laws from Japan's National Police Agency (NPA), which usually avoids positions on legislation and policy, could however help revive the debate.

The NPA says child pornography is spreading on the internet at an "unprecedented pace" so those who buy and possess it should be severely punished to curb its supply.

"Child pornography producers are making DVDs because there is demand, yet we are not able to arrest buyers," the agency said. "Furthermore, some makers are encouraged by paedophiles to make increasingly brutal products that involve rape of children, and thus such buyers should be prosecuted as heavily as possible," it said in a written response to queries from Reuters.

Police data show a steady rise in cases of child pornography production and distribution -- there were a record 1,455 cases in 2011, up 8.4 percent from 2010. This year is likely to be another record with 1,016 cases by the end of July, nearly a 10 percent rise.

There is no comparable international data, but the latest U.S. State Department human rights report describes Japan as an "international hub for production and trafficking of child pornography."

The report also says the lack of a ban on possession of child pornography in Japan "continued to hamper police efforts to enforce the law effectively and participate fully in international law enforcement."

A 2002 cabinet office survey showed that 15 percent of Japanese men polled have seen child pornography and 10 percent admitted to owning it.

In Kyoto's landmark case, police checking for illicit content online found a site selling DVDs featuring girls under 13, a local police spokesman said. Through transaction records they found the buyers: two 20-year old students and a 19-year-old office worker, who were brought in for questioning and now await charges. Their names have not been released.

LEGISLATIVE LIMBO

Advocates say only by bringing national laws into line with other major nations can Japan join the global crackdown against child pornography's rapid spread over the Internet.

Russia is another exception, where production and distribution is a crime, but possession remains legal.

Japan signed a UN protocol in 2005 that bans all forms of involvement in child pornography, including its possession, and a 2007 government survey showed 90 percent of the Japanese public favoured tougher laws.

Yet a 2008 draft law and its later versions got stuck in a legislative limbo amid frequent government changes and political trench warfare in a divided parliament.

The resistance came from lawmakers, many in the Democratic party that won power in 2009, who feared the laws could be abused to frame political opponents and only proposed punishing those who buy the material "repeatedly". Japan's bar associations also opposed the possession ban, concerned it would give police too much leeway.

"There is the possibility that the police will use this law to investigate further into different cases that are completely unrelated to the possession of child pornography," said Yuri Kawamura, a lawyer representing the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, an umbrella group.

Keiji Goto, a police officer-turned lawyer who campaigns for tougher laws, dismisses such concerns.

"It's for the sake of the children, not the police's investigative powers," says Goto, who until 2005 investigated child pornography while in charge of a cyber crime unit.

"If simple possession is illegal there will be less people buying and selling it, and as a consequence, there would be fewer victims of such abuse."

Yet, the bar association's arguments come amid criticism of Japan's detention laws by rights groups. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have opposed the system under which judges routinely allow investigators to hold suspects for up to 23 days before they are charged.

Others who wield considerable power in the debate are manga publishers and fans, who fear that anti-porn laws could hit their genre, exposing it to censorship, and so oppose changes to current laws.

In 2010, when Tokyo authorities banned sales of sexually extreme manga and anime films to minors, publishers hit back at the ban as an infringement on free speech and 10 major publishers threatened to boycott an annual anime fair.

Some children's rights advocates also say the portrayal of minors as sex objects has become so commonplace that the public has grown to accept it as normal. One instance is the so-called junior idol genre that features child models in DVDs and photo books striking provocative poses.

Annual sales of this industry concentrated in Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district are estimated at 60 billion yen ($758 million).

"Child pornography cases appear to be perceived as "crimes of images or movie scenes" not crimes with real-life victims," says UNICEF's Nakai. "Therefore the public opinion has yet to turn into political pressure on the national parliament."

($1=79.10 yen)

(Additional reporting by Ruaridh Villar and Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

If they arrest these guys it would be a major step in the right direction for Japan. Here's to hoping. It bears mentioning that the child pornography that they are getting charged for buying is not lolicon but actual child pornography including real children, at least according to NHK.

[Todeswind]

* I meant to say "If they convict these guys"

[Skgoa]

Huh? I thought "real" CP was forbidden even in Japan?


The claim of there being a "child pornography's rapid spread over the Internet" is pure bullshit, though. That meme shouldn't be left unrebutted, because it is used to argue for internet censorship.

[Sidewinder]

Question: How valid are the bar associations' concerns that the police (as a politician's proxies) will abuse laws against child pornography, by persecuting political rivals? I don't mean cases in which a politician owned real child pornography- those deserve to be prosecuted- I mean cases in which a politician owned a Lucky Star doujinshi or other item an unscrupulous DA would claim was child pornography, in order to bring down a political rival. Has something like this happened post-WWII?

[Skgoa]

A similar case happened in Germany a couple of years ago. Somehow, the result of the search of the MP's offices made it to the press before the search was even finished. Though it has to be said that the guy was pretty naive to think his parlamentary immunity would allow him to disprove the "CP is traded over the internet" meme by checking for himself.

[Blayne]

Do Japanese politicians at all partake in Otaku interests? I understand the term to be on the upswing since the densha franchise hit it off, I think there was the one Prime Minister come to think of it. Maybe the younger ones, it's probably enough of an "in" subculture that any politicians who were into manga and anime probably would have a unspoken agreement not to raise it as an issue with each other.

[Formless]

Do Japanese politicians at all partake in Otaku interests? I understand the term to be on the upswing since the densha franchise hit it off, I think there was the one Prime Minister come to think of it. Maybe the younger ones, it's probably enough of an "in" subculture that any politicians who were into manga and anime probably would have a unspoken agreement not to raise it as an issue with each other.

What are you considering an "otaku interest", precisely? Because this is Japan we're talking about, the place of origin for the term. The word itself translates pretty neatly as "nerd" or "nerdy", not "fascinated by Japanese media" because, well, obviously.

Last I heard, manga in Japan is a fairly mainstream media, not pidgeonholed into marketing towards a purely geek audience like western comic books. The industry has a very different history there and much wider acceptance... and has had for much of its existence. For decades now. Correct me if I am wrong.

[spaceviking]

Do Japanese politicians at all partake in Otaku interests? I understand the term to be on the upswing since the densha franchise hit it off, I think there was the one Prime Minister come to think of it. Maybe the younger ones, it's probably enough of an "in" subculture that any politicians who were into manga and anime probably would have a unspoken agreement not to raise it as an issue with each other.

What are you considering an "otaku interest", precisely? Because this is Japan we're talking about, the place of origin for the term. The word itself translates pretty neatly as "nerd" or "nerdy", not "fascinated by Japanese media" because, well, obviously.

Last I heard, manga in Japan is a fairly mainstream media, not pidgeonholed into marketing towards a purely geek audience like western comic books. The industry has a very different history there and much wider acceptance... and has had for much of its existence. For decades now. Correct me if I am wrong.

I have heard the opposite, that people come to japan thinking their interest in anime will be considered normal only to find out that their interests are either considered perverse or for little kids. I remember when I was in Japan people made fun of the westerners that hung out in the "electric district" .

[Blayne]

Akihabara!

Otaku technically translates as nerd (originally its an honorific like -さま meaning "your house" iirc), but is more accurate to think of it as a "nerd who specializes his nerdiness into categorized subject matter", and generally seen to be done at the expense of being able to function in social environments; which may overlap with the NEET or hikikomori phenomenon. For example someone who posts 99% of the time in "The Firing Range" at Something Awful is very likely a "Gun Otaku".

So it depends, otaku got a bad rap because of some particularly nasty crimes that poisoned the well a long while back; the western equivalent of some dude doing a crime but is found to have had a katana on him at the time? That kind of thing. Although this has been improving for quite some time, there's a difference between someone who reads manga, which is virtually everyone and people who are "obsessive" about their interests. For example take the typical manga scene of some guy or girl (think the anime "Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai") with their room full of anime and manga paraphernalia, plays erogames for the story and so on. Someone like that, with those interests were at one time seen to be just as bad as pot smokers were in the west say 9 years ago?

At least as depicted in manga/anime being an otaku is usually something kept 'hidden' if you wanted to be treated normally and not a weirdo (see Genshiken).

I could drone on for quite at length, but basically basing a enthusiastic manga/anime fan to the same extent people here are Star Wars fans might get you odd looks but seems to be an attitude that is gradually shifting. So the way that former Prime Minister is a manga fan is something somewhat more ubiquitous than your casual manga fan, especially as it was something he was advocating to connect Japan to the world at large.

I think the bigger problem with westerners in Japan who like anime/manga is that the majority are [percieved to be] like those Americans in Genshiken who couldn't speak Japanese but just spat out random Japanesisms. Ultimately being fluent in Japanese seems to be pretty big key to some degree of conditional acceptance regardless of your hobbies. Obviously your mileage may vary.

[Formless]

Last I heard, manga in Japan is a fairly mainstream media, not pidgeonholed into marketing towards a purely geek audience like western comic books. The industry has a very different history there and much wider acceptance... and has had for much of its existence. For decades now. Correct me if I am wrong.

I have heard the opposite, that people come to japan thinking their interest in anime will be considered normal only to find out that their interests are either considered perverse or for little kids. I remember when I was in Japan people made fun of the westerners that hung out in the "electric district" .

Manga =! anime, for starters. There quite possibly is a different standard in place on that account. Also, what genres you expect to relate with could change the game, because the importers know their audience and demographic in America and select shows accordingly. And of course, there are people who like anime for the "exotic" factor, only to discover that its considered mundane by society that produced it. Like Star Wars in the US.

Its like, would you find it weird if someone came here and appeared to be obsessed with newspaper strips? Its so mundane, and most of its crap written for people with short attention spans! Who in their right mind really thinks Garfield is funny? That kind of interest would be like like being wowed by the taste of our chewing gum. Or television shows from the nighties made for kids. What adult really still talks about Batman: the Animated Series? Offline, that is? Put yourself into the shoes of that culture and imagine a stupid tourist, then tell me how you would react. Its not that its abnormal, but that you aren't part of the expected audience for it that defies cultural expectations.

But yeah, anecdotally of course, I know or have heard from people who have been to Japan who have been surprised at how ubiquitous manga seem to be. Like, seeing convenience stores selling them on a rack like you would expect to see magazines (probably because Manga are traditionally distributed in magazines) or cheap novels. Or seeing people shamelessly reading porn manga on the train. And do note that not all the people I am talking about are young twenty somethings who are inclined towards "otaku" interests or japanophilia. The one who recounted the porn on the train story? My father and uncle, there on business. Ten years ago.

Of course, even that might just have been an unusually nonchalant individual. Again, putting yourself into the shoes of someone dealing with a stupid tourist, who really goes out of their way to talk about Sports Illustrated's swimsuit calender with strangers? Not many, I would wager.

[Formless]

Akihabara!

Otaku technically translates as nerd (originally its an honorific like -さま meaning "your house" iirc), but is more accurate to think of it as a "nerd who specializes his nerdiness into categorized subject matter", and generally seen to be done at the expense of being able to function in social environments; which may overlap with the NEET or hikikomori phenomenon. For example someone who posts 99% of the time in "The Firing Range" at Something Awful is very likely a "Gun Otaku".

So it depends, otaku got a bad rap because of some particularly nasty crimes that poisoned the well a long while back; the western equivalent of some dude doing a crime but is found to have had a katana on him at the time? That kind of thing. Although this has been improving for quite some time, there's a difference between someone who reads manga, which is virtually everyone and people who are "obsessive" about their interests. For example take the typical manga scene of some guy or girl (think the anime "Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai") with their room full of anime and manga paraphernalia, plays erogames for the story and so on. Someone like that, with those interests were at one time seen to be just as bad as pot smokers were in the west say 9 years ago?

At least as depicted in manga/anime being an otaku is usually something kept 'hidden' if you wanted to be treated normally and not a weirdo (see Genshiken).

I could drone on for quite at length, but basically basing a enthusiastic manga/anime fan to the same extent people here are Star Wars fans might get you odd looks but seems to be an attitude that is gradually shifting. So the way that former Prime Minister is a manga fan is something somewhat more ubiquitous than your casual manga fan, especially as it was something he was advocating to connect Japan to the world at large.

I think the bigger problem with westerners in Japan who like anime/manga is that the majority are [percieved to be] like those Americans in Genshiken who couldn't speak Japanese but just spat out random Japanesisms. Ultimately being fluent in Japanese seems to be pretty big key to some degree of conditional acceptance regardless of your hobbies. Obviously your mileage may vary.

Yes yes, I know all of this. Not only have you not answered my question, you just highlighted the exact reason I asked it. In this context, what are you considering "otaku interests" which Japanese politicians may or may not partake in, and thus not talk about? Fanservice? Military history? Porn? Guns? Western film? Shojou manga? My Little Pony? All I'm asking is that you be specific, rather than implicitly project a western stereotype onto people which cannot fit it by definition.

[Blayne]

What is a otaku? But a filthy pile of lies and secrets.

Seriously though, in the context of this discussion I would pin it down on whether the politician or individual in question sees his hobby as a means of expressing him or herself as a part of a 'in-culture' and would define a politician as such if that is the case for him or her. The context of my post however, would be to express some degree of amazement if there were in fact Japanese politicians in the Diet who regularly consumed doujinshi or attended Comiket (or played erogames and so on) and was a matter of public knowledge, as I didn't think we've come that far just yet. Sorry for being a little broad originally I hope this is more specific.

[Sidewinder]

Back to the topic...

How bad IS corruption in the Japanese government? I'm not just talking about "Businessman A bribes Politician B to vote against Environmental Proposition C," I'm talking about "Politician A makes the police plant evidence in Politician B's home, so District Attorney C can charge Politician B with possession of child pornography," the concern the Japanese bar associations apparently have regarding laws that ban possession of child pornography.

[Todeswind]

Back to the topic...

How bad IS corruption in the Japanese government? I'm not just talking about "Businessman A bribes Politician B to vote against Environmental Proposition C," I'm talking about "Politician A makes the police plant evidence in Politician B's home, so District Attorney C can charge Politician B with possession of child pornography," the concern the Japanese bar associations apparently have regarding laws that ban possession of child pornography.

Actually there is probably more of an issue with politicians actually owning child pornography than there is an issue of corruption. Bear in mind that something like 10% of Japanese men admit to owning child pornography as per the cabinet survey mentioned in the article. It's a reasonably safe assertion that a politician would own child pornography in Japan because it's a reasonable assertion that one in ten (and probably more) men has it at home.

[Blayne]

Back to the topic... :roll:

How bad IS corruption in the Japanese government? I'm not just talking about "Businessman A bribes Politician B to vote against Environmental Proposition C," I'm talking about "Politician A makes the police plant evidence in Politician B's home, so District Attorney C can charge Politician B with possession of child pornography," the concern the Japanese bar associations apparently have regarding laws that ban possession of child pornography.

My impression is that I'm a little dubious that the politicians would have that incentive since its a parliamentary democracy and the positions of individuals representatives doesn't seem so important as to go to those extremes. I would be more worried about the bureaucracy doing so if the Diet tried to shake things up.

[Sidewinder]

I would be more worried about the bureaucracy doing so if the Diet tried to shake things up.

Please explain. What incentive does the bureaucracy have to interfere- or even exploit- with enforcement of laws against child pornography? I'm assuming you don't mean "Bureaucrat A accuses Bureaucrat B of being a child molester, so Bureaucrat A has one less rival for promotion."

[Blayne]

The Japanese bureaucracy is a very powerful force unto itself in Japanese politics do to how closely connected they were with the kereitsu and the LDP. The result is that to paraphrase tvtropes as I don't have any convenient sources off the top of my head: "Take how much power the British civil service was claimed to have and double it, that is how powerful the Japanese civil service actually is." The DPJ from what I've read actively challenges the civil service, and business (paraphrasing) and the Diet work against each other to get anything done.

So the civil service is very powerful, and competes with the Diet so in a scuffle between the Diet and the Civil Service maybe it could be an issue? That is what I was trying to say.