Amazon got busted!
Not even the biggest online retailer in the world is safe from the cops.
The Japanese police have raided the Amazon Japan office on suspicion of assisting the sale of child pornography.
On Friday, cops raided the Tokyo headquarters of Amazon Japan, plus the distribution center in Chiba Prefecture (ironically, you can spot it on the way to Disneyland).
The charges are that Amazon let products be sold on its website which broke laws against child pornography. The photo books featured nude girls under 18 and police suspect Amazon knew what the products were — and should have stopped them.
This follows the arrest of two men in September last year in Aichi in connection with selling books with underage girls on Amazon. Of course, Amazon sells millions of products but the police claim the retailer cannot claim ignorance in this case.
It has already seen another distribution center in Kanagawa Prefecture raided in November last year. It was surely only a matter of time before the main distribution center was hit.
Japan banned the production of child pornography in 1999, which led to a surge in popularity of “junior idol” DVDs with the genitals technically covered. However, last June the laws were strengthened so that the possession of child pornography is now illegal (at the time the bill passed, it was noted by the international media that Japan was probably the last developed nation to do this).
Amazon Japan also has guidelines banning the sale of all illegal products, as well as stolen items and sex-related goods, including child pornography. Adult toys are sold on Amazon Japan for domestic customers, though they are marked as “joke goods” and you have to click through a warning page filter.
