Posted on 06/18/2014 3:31:10 AM PDT by Olog-hai
Japan’s parliament has passed a law which bans possession of child pornography, but excludes sexually explicit depictions of children in comics, animation and computer graphics. […]
The law provides for prison terms of up to one year and fines of up to 1 million yen ($9,800) for having pornographic photographs or videos of children. It allows a grace period of one year for people owning such materials to dispose of them. […]
Child advocates and other critics of the new legislation say it is a long-overdue improvement, but are unhappy with the exclusion of depictions of sexual fantasies involving children in “manga” comic books, anime and video games. Pictures of children as young as toddlers posed in sexually suggestive ways are easily found online in Japan. …
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Manga and anime should be banned just on principle, regardless of any connection to porn. I could expound on just how truly awful those cartoon forms are, but then I remember that this is the culture that recently produced ghastly robot “babies” to try to entice people to have more children.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/06/23/japan.baby.robot.population/
Wow....aren’t they about 100 years late?
“but then I remember that this is the culture that recently produced ghastly robot “babies” to try to entice people to have more children.”
Truly a culture in a death spiral, similar to that in the United States (we just use different “bread & circuses”). After resisting for decades, Japan is now forced to let in foreigners because their population is aging & dying...
Anima introduced a child of mine to transexualism and homosexuality.
We still have a very small gaijin population here compared to Europe, the USA, and Canada. Most foreigners here are professionals with good jobs. We are not like Toronto and Los Angeles. Japan has done well with their strict immigration policy. I love it here because its still homogenous, and most foreigners are accepted as respectable people.
It should be noted that US law in this area is vague and inconsistent.
Federal law prohibits “cartoon” or virtual pornography involving fictional child characters only if it “lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”
How, even in theory, virtual or cartoon child porn could have any such value is a puzzlement.
State laws on the issue are wildly inconsistent.
I was under the impression from friends who have visited Japan that they import Filipinos for their lower working class; I wouldn’t know myself. The number of gaijin there today is probably 1000% of the number there ten years ago; the native population is held up as the epitome of an aging, dying population (moreso than Western European countries that are looking at the same fate). I’m not pointing fingers; the European settlers of the United States are going the same way.
The biggest problem with manga and anime is the labeling and/or rating. There are named categories that could tip off a parent to unwanted content, but relatively few westerners know what to look for (unfortunately, the kids often *do* know what those category titles mean). A lot of the stuff that is *not* rated TV-MA has too much adult content.
That said, there is a lot of anime that is not only totally clean, but exquisitely crafted. It's a shame that this true art is in the shadow of the nasty, poorly illustrated, fetish-laden stuff.
Manga is simply a form for presenting stories. It can present any type of story someone might write. From Romantic tragedies to sports stories, or historical narratives to supernatural horror stories. It is all there.
The porn is there too, just as it is with novels or magazines. And, with the decadence of American society, there is likely porn consumption in all media. That does not make any of the media inherently bad. It is the prurient material which is the problem.
My granddaughter has grown up watching studio ghibli. Studio Ghibli is wonderful. Start with My Neighbor Totoro. Spirited Away is his masterpiece but is a little scary. I also love Howl’s Moving Castle. My granddaughter’s favorite is The Cat Returns. This is the studio that did Ponyo and Arreitti.
Yes... my question is why not gospel manga?
There actually is some Christian stuff produced by the Japanese Catholic minority.
This is something I’ve been concerned about for a number of years. Actually, ever sinc CGI was clearly depicting human acts so realistically that any futurist could see that the day was soon coming that you could not tell the difference between real actors and CGI.
The foundational argument against posessing these images of children is that a real child is in the images or videos and is being exploited. No matter what the arguments the supporters of this industry may try, that argument trumps it all. But what of drawings and, of CGI that looks absolutely real? No child was exploited.
What then?
I too have wondered about this. In a few discussions, most people that I have talked to seem to think that such CGI images should be banned because they will encourage thoughts of child molestation, and then some might act on these thoughts. In other words, the reasoning against such images consists of thoughtcrime and what-ifs.
I personally have no desire to view anything depicting children sexually, and I am quite sure that you don’t either. Don’t be surprised if some on this thread accuse either or both of us of pedophilia, regardless.
Not to pick a fight or point fingers, but you allowed it. My kids don’t see/watch anything that I do not watch/research first. They especially don’t watch 99% of the cartoons/animation crap that is out there.
In a few discussions, most people that I have talked to seem to think that such CGI images should be banned because they will encourage thoughts of child molestation, and then some might act on these thoughts. In other words, the reasoning against such images consists of thoughtcrime and what-ifs.
And like you, the whole concept is repugnant to me. It is a very dangerous form of mental illness.
I don't know about that. Ghost in the Shell is excellent. So is Cowboy Bebop for that matter. Cowboy Bebop has one of the best soundtracks of any cartoon I can think of. The Seatbelts rock.
Yeah, some of it sucks. (my daughters liked Inayasha) Like most artistic forms though, some is good, some is bad, some is excellent.
While it has a similar ‘look and feel’ to Studio Ghibli, never make the mistake of thinking that the movie Grave of the Fireflies (IMDb rating 8.5, 446 reviews) was done by them. It is one of the most painful tragedies ever made, and even a lot of adults are traumatized by watching it.
But it is one of the best animated movies ever made.
What change did the Japanese do to their immigration laws?
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