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United Nations Group Urges Japan to Ban Explicit Games, Manga

The United Nations' Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women issued a lengthy list of its observations on Japan's sixth periodic report on sexual discrimination on August 7. In section 35 of the report on the status of 1979's Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the committee welcomed the increased prison times under Japan's revised Act Banning Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. However, it expressed concern "at the normalization of sexual violence in the State party as reflected by the prevalence of pornographic video games and cartoons featuring rape, gang rape, stalking and the sexual molestation of women and girls." It also noted that the current child pornography laws do not cover virtual child pornography — material such as some manga, anime, and software that explicitly depict fictional children.

The committee then strongly urged Japan "to ban the sale of video games or cartoons involving rape and sexual violence against women which normalize and promote sexual violence against women and girls." It further recommends that this issue be covered in the revised act.

While the bill on the act's revision was introduced in the Japanese parliament last year, the government decided to study the issue of virtual child pornography for three years.

Sources: Asahi Shimbun, Yomiuri Shimbun