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Asahi: Tokyo's 'Virtual' Child Porn Bill Put on Hold
posted on by Christopher Macdonald
According to the Asahi Shimbun paper, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) intends to postpone the vote on the proposed legislation in Metropolitan Tokyo to restrict sexually provocative, "visual depictions" of characters who sound or appear to be younger than 18 years old.
According to the report, the DPJ (the largest faction in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly) does not intend to let the bill come to a vote this month; instead, deliberations will continue in the assembly's General Affairs Committee beyond the current legislative session. Dan Kanemitsu, one of the industry professionals who criticized the bill and met with the DPJ to discuss it, noted on his Twitter account that if this is the case, the bill will be "dead until June," when the assembly's next regular session begins.
Arguments from some members of the DPJ and the manga creators who oppose the bill have said that this bill would violate freedom of expression. The bill's proponents had originally planned to put it to a vote in the General Affairs Committee on Friday. Had the proposal made it out of the committee, it would have faced a vote by the entire assembly on March 30.
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