Otaku fan-favorite and recently seated Japanese politician, Yamada Taro, is reportedly aiming to tackle the restrictions surrounding the censorship laws in Japan under Article 175, which has forced many works to include some form of censorship over the genitalia of real-life pornography and fictional pornography.
CEO of Irodori Comics, On Takahashi, attempted to bring attention to the situation by tweeting about it in a 25 post thread on November 18th, 2019.
The tweets are in English, translated from Japanese, where Takahashi wrote…
“BIG NEWS for HENTAI and JP PORN
“Criminal Code 175（JP censorship law) is under review by politicians. By shifting the scope of the law from the social sphere to the private sphere, there is an argument that porn censorship can be removed as long as there is consent.
“This will most likely affect non-existent 2D characters and individual actors in pornographic content.
“Content involving real under-aged individuals and those who do not give their consent, will of course, remain censored.
“Politicians looking to amend Criminal Code 175 are currently discussing their options with the police and other parties.
“While this sounds like a big win for those who want to see pixels and mosaics removed from Japanese porn and hentai, this could be an uphill battle.
“The biggest obstacle would be whether companies WILL implement the changes.
“In Japan, the Japanese PTA is an incredibly powerful lobbying group and their voices are well heard in the media. Some would even say that they are as influential as the NRA.
“The 1st push back for removing censorship will most likely come from the PTA and other groups arguing for the “obscenity clause”.
“This might be the toughest fight. It’s hard to fight for uncensored 2D hentai, when what you are fighting for also covers shota and loli.
“This makes “character assassination” incredibly easy. Anyone fighting for the removal of mosaics under “freedom of expression” will most likely be doxxed and blasted on social media.
“And ANY parent will find it hard to support an uncensored 6 year old 2D vagina.
“It will be political suicide for politicians to be seen supporting “the perverts” who want “uncensored kiddy porn” (The media will focus on Shota/loli for the headlines).
“While Freedom of expression is a big thing in the US, “suppressing your expression” is JP culture.
“In all walks of Japanese life, there are things one should and should not say. We refer to it as “reading the air”. To be a “good” JP citizen, one must know what they are supposed to say at different situations.
“This means that “censorship” is ingrained into JP culture.
“Finding “allies” to fight for uncensored porn will be extremely hard, considering the “cost” of supporting it. Anyone expressing support online will be doxxed hard by the PTA and other groups. That’s a “Big sacrifice” for seeing a dick without pixels.
“If by some miracle, politicians get together and actually change the law, the next push back will be against the companies.
“Just because the law changed, it doesn’t mean that things will change overnight.
“In fact, the 2nd stage is where the fight becomes vulnerable.
“The PTA and other interested organizations, having lost the “fight” on the political stage, can simply target private companies.
“The 3 biggest Hentai distributors in JP, DMM, Melonbooks and Toranoana, all have “clean” (Non-H) businesses and parent companies.
“All it would take is a well-organized “protest letter” or Social Media blasting to the company Twitter page or on the media, to scare shareholders and board members to not release uncensored hentai.
“Japan is a country that is VERY sensitive to public image.
“The entire Toyota Verblitz rugby team was banned from the league after ONE dude was caught smoking a joint.
“Self-censorship and restriction to appease society” is a very big thing in Japan.
“So even if something is perfectly legal in JP it doesn’t always make it right.”
The thread goes on to talk more about Japan’s culture and some of the pros and cons of living (and working there) as well as Taro’s uphill battle to get things changed.
However, before anything go move forward, Taro’s policy has to undergo a review before reform of Criminal Code 175 can be altered.
Talking to Nicchiban, On Takahashi told them…
“Yamada Taro is around one step before the review. He’s talking to other stakeholders of censorship to try and “define” a direction of reviewing Criminal code 175. […] He built his career in the manga/anime otaku culture industry. So he’s kinda the “voice” of Oktakus in the Japanese diet. He’s “younger” and more down to earth than your standard JP politician.”
Takahashi also notes that free speech activism isn’t really strong in Japan, and the Otaku community is looked down upon by most of general society, and especially via the Twitter denizens.
There’s also the fear that Cancel Culture cultists may rear their head and attempt to undermine Taro’s efforts in an attempt to subvert any momentum to get the censorship measures repealed.
We’ll see if Taro’s efforts reap any positive benefits, but for now it looks like he has a long road ahead of him.
(Thanks for the news tips Ashisuka and CZ)
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