News

BBC Radio Report on Lolicon Manga Thursday

On Thursday January 8, BBC Radio 4 will broadcast a report on manga, focusing on the controversy around manga which depict children in sexual situations. 'Should Comics be Crimes?' will be broadcast at 11 a.m. It will subsequently be available on the BBC website here. The 28-minute programme is part of the station's 'Crossing Continents' series. It will also be broadcast on the 'Assignment' programme on BBC World Service.

From the programme summary:

Manga and anime can be about almost anything, and some can be confronting - especially those featuring young children in sexually explicit scenarios. The UK, Canada and Australia have all banned these sorts of virtual images, placing them in the same legal category as real images of child abuse.

Last year, Japan became the last OECD country to outlaw the possession of real child abuse images, but they decided not to ban manga and anime. To many outsiders and some Japanese, this seems baffling - another example of 'weird Japan', and a sign the country still has a long way to go to taking child protection seriously.

James Fletcher travels to Tokyo to find out why the Japanese decided not to ban. Is this manga just fodder for paedophiles, and is Japan dragging its feet on protecting children? Or is Japan resisting moral panic and standing up for freedom of thought and expression?

James Fletcher also has a text article on the BBC site, headed 'Why hasn't Japan banned child-porn comics?' The article claims, 'Although manga involving very young children does appear to have some social stigma attached to it, sexual material involving adolescents is a fairly mainstream interest. Japan's legislators were apparently reluctant to put large numbers of manga fans - potentially millions - on the wrong side of the law.'

LiLy, a female author, claims the fascination with adolescent sexuality is 'all about the power that men want to achieve, men who are tired of strong independent women...There are people business-wise who are not successful, maybe they are running into fantasy with Lolicon manga.'

Dan Kanemitsu, a manga translator and free-speech advocate, claims censorship of such material would be thought-policing; 'What's wrong with having a fantasy life?'

Child protection campaigner Kazuna Kanajiri says that 'Junior Idol' DVDs, showing real children in sexually suggestive poses, are a greater problem, though she also hopes some anime and manga will eventually be banned.

Thanks to Ian Wolf for the heads-up; further information via Anime UK News,