Japan criticized over child porn loopholes

[TheMightyFavog]

Source: CNN

The United Nations Children's Fund said Japan's 1999 child pornography law suffers from serious loopholes that hobble law enforcement and threaten children around the world.

"Forms of child pornography that are banned in other countries but not in Japan ... are still widely available on the Internet and on the street," UNICEF said in a statement.

(snip)

"Because it is legal in Japan to possess child pornography, it is almost impossible for investigators here to obtain search warrants to confiscate and search suspects' computers," Schieffer wrote in the Jan. 31 article in the Yomiuri newspaper.

The law does also not cover images of child pornography in animated films, comic books and computer game software -- products that Japan is a major producer of.


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/03/11/japan.porn.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

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This is screwed up. My impression of the situation is that the UN practically had to drag Japan kicking and screaming just to pass the anti kiddie porn laws that they already have on the books. I'm not surprised the Japanese found ways to wriggle around this.

Between their "whaling for research purposes" and now this, it seems Japan has a knack for getting around pressure from the international community.

[varkam]

1. AFAIK, there's no law prohibiting "virtual" child porn in the US.

The rationale being is that if it is a cartoon character then there is no victim and consequently no victimization. It doesn't surprise me, though, that there'd be other loopholes in the laws. Sexual culture in post WW2 Japan has been a lot like the US, except cranked up to 10 with the puritan brakes taken off.

[TheMightyFavog]

2. I seem to recall that the US Occupational government tried to enact some strict porn laws...

However, the Japanese Government always seemed to find ways around them.

[TrogL]

3. Depiction of child abuse is still illegal

The problem with anime is everybody looks like they're 14, including people presented as "grandfather".

[Hugabear]

4. What about using adults to portray juveniles in sexual scenes?

I remember when Ashcroft tried to pass some anti-porn law, it would have outlawed using adults to portray minors in sexual situations. There was concern this would affect legitimate movies such as American Beauty.

Child pornography is abhorrent - but how far do you draw the line? You can get anime in the US with "young" looking characters in sexual situations.

[varkam]

6. To my knowledge, there's no law that covers that.

I could be wrong, though. The SOTUS struck down a law that covers "virtual" child porn. However, prosecutors can still use obsenity laws to prosecute. There's a US Atty that's doing just that right now to a woman that wrote stories about girls being raped a murdered.

[pop goes the weasel]

7. no, it isn't

You can draw or cgi anything your imagination can dream up, even if most people would prefer you and your imagination were never heard from again. What you can't do is actually harm a real live person in the making of your deviant art. So, neither the making or viewing of animated child porn or of a clay statue of W being reamed by a bull is illegal. However, using actual children as models or actually reaming W with a bull would both be felonies. You can't argue that one is offensive to public morals and the other not, because clearly, even the clay statue would be highly morally offensive to some. This is why depiction of offensive acts, when no offensive act was actually perpetrated, is legal.

[Zhade]

9. LOL! Yes, Super Gundam Grandfatheruto!

:P

[girl gone mad]

5. From what I understand,

the Japanese have a kind of odd philosophy about child nudity and sex, which involves the idea that children are innocent so sexual depictions and nude photos of them are considered wholesome, while the same images of adults would be banned. I think this evolved from historical circumstances/events, but I can't remember the details. From visiting Japan, I know that the culture libidinizes children, particularly girls, to an extreme degree.

[Zhade]

8. Uh, it's DRAWN. There's no victim involved, and no actual harm.

The disgust over the images is completely understandable, but this is like prosecuting for thought crime.

[MetaTrope]

10. As for legal production of porn in Japan, actresses are required to be 18 years of age

...although I don't know the extent to which age in Japan is still calculated from conception rather than birth.