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NEWS: Takeshi Nogami Responds to CNN's Rapelay Report

adultery is negative precisely because of what it is, a term coined by these religious groups that pertain to the sinful acts of extramarital sex.

His argument boils down to two core points. The first is his array of statistics about how crime in Japan is much more rare than it is in America, which is fair game. He therefore concludes that hentai games have no negative effect on Japanese society. Yet while it may be safe for a woman to walk around in Akihabara, it's also too often a challenge for one to ride the train without getting groped by some anonymous pervert.

This can't compare to a rape, of course, but it's a persistent problem that certainly doesn't suggest a respect for the fairer sex. That issue aside, however, crime isn't the only measuring stick. There's the troubling fact that Japan has serious demographic problems that won't disappear just because they're ignored. Now there are multiple components to this problem and the expectations of women are likely one of them, but it takes some serious aloofness to convince oneself that a bunch of young men settling for virtual fantasies isn't also a part of the problem there.

We can probably agree that there's a lot of porn and hentai out there, but that it's not all the same. Let's just remember what's at issue here. The CNN article discusses child pornography a bit, and what started all of this was a report about a game that simulates rape. That's the bottom line. That's what the appropriately-titled Rapelay is. Rape is one of the most reprehensible crimes in existence. It is not a legitimate fantasy.

Humanity is not all hentai in the sense that every one of us goes to bed having fantasies about what it'd be like to rape another person. It is not normal and it certainly is not healthy; it is the epitome of disrespect for the opposite sex. It violates the victim's body and will for the gratification of the assaulter. It's a twisted distortion of the purpose of sex.

It is not wrong some of the time, it is wrong all of the time. Even Takeshi Nogami doesn't dispute that since he considers it a good thing such a heinous crime is relatively uncommon in his country.

The world is not rated G. It's not rated PG. I'd say it's mostly R & sometimes it is X (& not just for sex. I'd say war is X for violence)

Are you a chick?

As a gal who's gone from shy in my youth to being a tad more vocal by my 30's, I wonder if those train cars aren't just a nod to those shy shrinking violets who are portrayed as fairly common in Japan.

IS it an actual groping problem, or the simple fact that Tokyo is apparently a very, very crowded area? That trains CAN be jammed full of too many commuters so that someone with a large personal space feels encroached upon?

Yes, it is. It was the stuff of many, many potboiler romances in the past. It took the burden of consent away from the woman. There was a romantic ideal that it WAS romance when we know it's not-it's control.

As long as it stays in the guy's head, where's the harm? So if a guy (or gal to be fair) can THINK about raping/killing/maiming someone & never ever do it in real life, how is it wrong?

I'd gamble most anyone who has suffered a rape or lost a loved one to a violent crime would have loved it if the criminal had kept the crime just a fantasy locked away in the furthest part of the criminal's mind.

If you're trying to get me to say that some specific methods of consensual sex are okay whereas others aren't, I'm not going to play that kind of silly semantic game.

If your definition of "legitimate" and "illegitimate" are snap judgments of your own visceral moral compass, then to be honest, your ideas on the subject are only insulated personal opinion and are too small to participate in a discussion of how to regulate an industry and/or artform.

I think I've addressed this adequately. If one believes that rape is a morally reprehensible crime of the first degree, then it's difficult for me to imagine how one could ever conclude that fantasizing about doing it or acting it out in a game is supposed to be passable.

If legislation against that were proposed that was very specific, it would probably prove exceedingly difficult to oppose.

GWO 321 Digital Assault Fornication Taboo Act

Video games depicting rape and, on top of that, apparent rape of minors are forbidden to exist in any form within my realm of authority.

-Signed into law 04/05/2010 by GWOtaku

And a considerable market exist because adults of both gender eventually do have what you call unhealthy sexual fantasies like bondage/BDSM fantasies, homoerotic fantasies, sexual fantasies involving underage people (remember Britney Spears when she was younger) and yes, even rape.

This seems to be the main root of everyone's angst and how this issue, to some, directly correlates with an H-game who's main premise is to advance the plot through various situations where they rape women and some that are minors aswell. Does this include customizable content/situations that the user can manipulate? I can't say for sure as I have not played the game.