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Child porn, if animated, eludes regulators
Freedom of expression vs. moves to place controls on DVDs, software Date: 5/18/2005 |
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Japanese animation has secured an enviable position in popular culture not only at home but abroad. But some lawmakers and activist groups are calling for tighter controls on a certain subculture of "anime" magazines, videos and computer games -- pornographic material featuring young girls. In late April, Seiko Noda, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, launched a multiparty group of lawmakers to deal with the issue. They listened to the views of the National Police Agency and two nonprofit organizations working for children's rights. "I think (pornographic) animation, although it is fiction, has become a problem that we cannot ignore," Noda said at the meeting, expressing concern that some men who watch small girls sexually assaulted in animated material might be inspired to commit similar acts. Behind such concerns is the increase in sex crimes involving small children. According to the NPA, the number of recognized sexual crimes involving victims under 13 years old -- mostly girls -- stood at 1,762 in 2004, up from 1,298 in 1995. The crimes include rape and indecent assault. Kaoru Kobayashi, 36, who is on trial for the kidnap-murder of a 7-year-old girl in Nara Prefecture last November, has testified in court that he began to have an interest in small girls after watching an animated pornographic video when he was in high school. Kobayashi was convicted of molesting small girls in 1989 and served time in prison for the attempted murder of a young girl in 1991. In Japan, making, distributing, selling and displaying child pornography are banned by the 1999 Law for Punishing Acts related to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography and for Protecting Children. However, animated material is not covered by the law. Animated pornography is regulated by Article 175 of the Criminal Code, which prohibits distribution, sales and possession of obscene publications. But Shinpei Nawa, director of the NPA's Office for Protection of Juveniles, said it is difficult to control all of this material with Article 175, given the massive number of such publications in circulation. Roughly 2,000 pornographic animation titles -- videos, DVDs and computer games -- are distributed in Japan annually, and half feature schoolgirl characters, according to Michiko Nagaoka, director of Juvenile Guide, a Kyoto-based NPO set up in 2003 to promote public awareness of the problem of animated child pornography software. Nagaoka herself used to run a company making and selling pornographic computer games but withdrew from the business five years ago. Makers of pornographic animation materials have set up ethics organizations to voluntarily censor obscene images, including depictions of sexual acts, in animated software. The Ethics Organization of Computer Software, one such group made up of 280 software makers, declined comment on whether regulations on pornographic animation should be tightened. Some experts voice caution about tightening legal controls, saying such measures could infringe on freedom of expression. Hisashi Sonoda, a professor of criminal and information law at Konan University in Kobe, said pornographic child animation is different from material that contains real images of children. "Using real children in pornography is an abuse, and those children suffer an additional ordeal as those materials are distributed," Sonoda said. "Comic books and animation computer games involve no real children as victims." But Mitsue Kondo, representative of the Campaign to Stop the Abuse of Asian Children and to Safeguard Their Rights, argued that juveniles who watch animated pornography -- just like nonanimated pornography -- may develop distorted views about girls or women. "Such a situation makes our society more dangerous to girls," she said. "We've got to think about it before talking about freedom of expression." Her nonprofit organization based in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, has collected more than 10,000 signatures since last year on a petition calling for stronger regulation of pornographic animation featuring young girls. Konan University's Sonoda said the problem should be addressed by restricting juveniles' access to pornographic animation -- through local government ordinances banning the sale or rental of harmful materials to minors -- instead of blanket legal controls on the makers of pornographic content. Computers at home or at public facilities can use filtering software so users cannot access Web sites that contain harmful pornographic animation, he added. |
| Source: Japan Times |
