News
Japan Delays Decision on Manga/Anime in Child Porn Law
posted on by Egan Loo
A bill to amend Japan's child pornography laws was introduced in the Japanese parliament's lower house on June 10, but the government has decided to study the issue of so-called "virtual pornography" — material such as some manga, anime, and software that explicitly depict fictional children — for three years. The parliament will consider the results of the study before making a future decision on the issue.
This year's proposed bill will outlaw the possession of child pornography with up to one year in prison and up to 1,000,000 yen (about US$10,000), but not include virtual depictions in the enforcement. There are already laws passed in 1999 and 2004 that ban the production and public display — but not possession — of child pornography in Japan. The American government has been calling for a Japanese ban on possession, and the Japanese branch of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has been pushing for the inclusion of virtual depictions in the ban. According to Japan's Ministry of Justice, there were 25 cases of child pornography indictments in 1999, 214 in 2003, and 585 in 2006.
Source: Internet Watch
