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INTEREST: Aichi Governor Vows Crackdown on Lewd Selfies by Ghibli Park Visitors


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Nigel Planter



Joined: 09 Jan 2023
Posts: 113
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 3:22 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Studio Ghibli has refrained from commenting on the issue. Some people on social media have objected to the studio's silence, arguing, "Don't let this slide," or "Are they not willing to protect their characters?"


I don't know about Yonebayashi, but I need to find that one quote from Tomino where he basically says "Hayao Miyazaki should admit to being lolicon already lol" for the amount of times Miyazaki went into detail about things like designing Nausicaa's breasts or talked about falling in love with 12 year old girls.
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-Matthew-



Joined: 12 Mar 2022
Posts: 1580
PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 3:28 pm Reply with quote
They are right, rules are for all.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24207
PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 3:35 pm Reply with quote
Disappointing. The headline made me think that maybe hot chicks were taking lewd selfies OF THEMSELVES in Ghibli Park. Just one more of life's crushing disappointments.
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Dark Mac



Joined: 17 May 2008
Posts: 323
PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 3:43 pm Reply with quote
Nooo, please think of the statues!

Seriously, who cares about people taking "lewd" pictures? This is nothing. The destruction of property part sounds a lot more serious, but I'm not sure what exactly that entails here.
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kgw



Joined: 22 Jul 2004
Posts: 1197
Location: Spain, EU
PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 4:18 pm Reply with quote
Well, they took "lewd" pictures of ALIVE women, schoolgirls, flight attendants, why the problem is with statues?
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Hoppy800



Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Posts: 3331
PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 4:23 pm Reply with quote
kgw wrote:
Well, they took "lewd" pictures of ALIVE women, schoolgirls, flight attendants, why the problem is with statues?


"Moral Guardians" with nothing else better to do, and the characters have probably been "defiled" by the creators for starters as said in the original post (there's even really old, like 90's old hentai motion comics that are out there online and at least 2 had Ghibli characters). The rules of anime and the internet apply to all works and nothing is sacred.
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ranran-001



Joined: 25 Oct 2018
Posts: 545
PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 4:37 pm Reply with quote
Can't they just keep their hands to themselves, and not walk all over the displays? It's a simple matter of "this is for you to look at, not fondle, touch, or mess with your greasy nasty hands."
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MagicPolly



Joined: 26 Nov 2020
Posts: 1630
PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 4:46 pm Reply with quote
Kind of sad that the government cares more about this than the park itself
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Uchay



Joined: 27 Nov 2016
Posts: 84
PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 4:52 pm Reply with quote
Tbh, I reckon this has less to do with "morals", and more to do with protecting Ghilbi's and the park's image, specially considering how it tries to sell itself as "family friendly".

After all, pictures posted in social media are also considered a form of marketing, and having people take those types of pictures with statues of beloved Ghilbi characters in a Ghilbi themed park may not sit well with potential visitors and even fans of the movies, who will expect someone to do something about it. The governor probably doesn't want tourists to get discouraged from visiting because of that, and lose tourism revenue, so they release these paltry statements.

That said, these guys taking pictures of themselves fondling a statue's breasts sure makes them look like losers, more than anything Rolling Eyes
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Arale Kurashiki



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 781
PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 5:59 pm Reply with quote
"Protecting the public image of the characters" is itself kind of politically loaded with Ghibli, though. Yes definitely read Tomino and Oshii's writing on Miyazaki. I don't think taking joke photos is morally wrong.
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Los Nido



Joined: 26 Jun 2022
Posts: 132
PostPosted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 6:25 pm Reply with quote
If the actual creators don't care, I don't see why anyone else should, but Twitter is going to complain about everything at the end of the day. The most charitable reading I can give this governor's response is something like Uchay's take in that it's just a performative boilerplate response to appease the tourism bureau and he doesn't actually care about this.

Otherwise, these kinds of photos are nothing new. People have taken these kinds of photos with statues all the way from Ronald McDonald bench statues to Hindu Goddess statues in India. There's even famous statues like the one in Verona of Juliet Capulet where it's a tradition that groping her breasts is said to bring good luck and it is a common tourist attraction there. The character in question is 13 years old, for those who don't remember their Shakespeare.
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Ming Yi



Joined: 20 Dec 2005
Posts: 218
PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 2023 1:57 am Reply with quote
So I'm going to give the perspective of this from my friend, a Japanese woman, who brought this to my attention.

She was furious about this situation because "molestation is common and neglected" in Japan, and because Japanese women are so often molested on a regular basis, it frustrates her that there are people who brazenly and shamelessly do this openly in public, even if they are statues. According to her, it sends a particular message that sexual assault is "no big deal."

Uchay wrote:
Tbh, I reckon this has less to do with "morals", and more to do with protecting Ghilbi's and the park's image, specially considering how it tries to sell itself as "family friendly".


From a logical standpoint, I definitely see this reason, though.
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Blazi



Joined: 25 Oct 2021
Posts: 502
PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 2023 2:43 am Reply with quote
What a stupid thing to be mad over. They are just statues.
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Slips Python



Joined: 16 Jan 2023
Posts: 40
PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 2023 2:47 am Reply with quote
Two questions:

1. Would people complain as much if it was people messing with the giant tanuki balls at the Pom Poko exhibit? Assuming they have statues of those...

2. Just how detailed is it under the characters skirts to begin with. Because if it's fully sculpted, well.... it seems intentional. Like with anime figurines.

The only real complaint I can get behind is it's a theme park with kids so it'd be awkward to do that in front of them. But then I've seen Disney Adults do worse at Disneyland before though so as long as no one's looking or the other guests aren't complaining then I guess it's whatever.
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Lily70



Joined: 19 Sep 2021
Posts: 38
PostPosted: Tue Mar 14, 2023 2:59 am Reply with quote
Ming Yi wrote:
So I'm going to give the perspective of this from my friend, a Japanese woman, who brought this to my attention.

She was furious about this situation because "molestation is common and neglected" in Japan, and because Japanese women are so often molested on a regular basis, it frustrates her that there are people who brazenly and shamelessly do this openly in public, even if they are statues. According to her, it sends a particular message that sexual assault is "no big deal."

Uchay wrote:
Tbh, I reckon this has less to do with "morals", and more to do with protecting Ghilbi's and the park's image, specially considering how it tries to sell itself as "family friendly".


From a logical standpoint, I definitely see this reason, though.


This!

I think everybody knows those just statue and not real people. But the fact that sexual assault in many instances, it’s not taken as seriously in Japan send a message that this is this is no big deal even if it’s on a statue.

There are many men who gropes woman on trains, or takes upskirt photos, and most of the time or not taken seriously. So this is only another instance of it’s no big deal, even if it’s on a statue.

I mean it is serious enough that our phones in Japan now have a loud shutter on it so you can hear when a photo is being taken. Is this not an induction of how common and serious
Sexual assault is?
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