Under Japan’s current laws, it is illegal to produce and distribute child pornography. However, politicians are looking to toughen this up by making it illegal also top possess child porn. Japan is one of the few major industrialized nations not to have a law against this.
However, the new law will not include comic book depictions.
The proposed revision to the law would exclude manga, anime and computer graphics, but would make possession of other forms of child porn punishable by up to a year in prison and a fine of 1 million yen (nearly $10,000).
The bill was debated by a lower house committee and then voted by lawmakers to be presented to the main Diet chamber, where it is expected to pass. It would then be sent up to the Upper House before the parliament session ends on June 22nd.
While the politicos have ostensibly protected manga and anime from the revision, the new law comes against an increasing climate of repression against sexually explicit comics.
In May The Tokyo Metropolitan Government said it was banning sales to underage consumers of a manga depicting incestuous relationships. “Little Sisters Paradise! 2″ came out in April but was classified as an “unhealthy publication” that has to be kept out of children’s reach.
The revision to the kiddie porn law has been resisted by mangaka and publishers who fear that the next step will be restrictions on comics and anime, which will damage freedom of expression and amount to censorship.
