Finding themselves with nothing better to do for the moment, Japan’s politicians have been generating political capital by humouring moralist groups such as UNICEF, who have launched a hysterical crusade against what they see as lax laws on the part of Japan.
An opposition diet member (of the Koumeito – a major religious party run by a Buddhist sect) recently petitioned the government for even more laws, meaning against loli manga and similar: “We’d like the government to assist with all its energy in bringing these laws to pass” – and Prime Minister Rozen Aso, himself having a Catholic background, responded positively “We must proactively deliberate upon the matter”.
Rather more interesting than the vapid posturing of politicians out for their names is the critical response we see on the Internet, particularly on 2ch. A quite extensive body of statistics and other evidence disputing the anti-freedom of expression camp has come to be commonly presented, so looking at some of this is probably of interest.
I should caution that these statistics are assembled by partisans (just as are those assembled by the other side of the argument); since you can read the scaremongering side of things anywhere, not least on UNICEF’s pages, here I only present evidence (accredited, of course) from 2ch:
UN Statistics for 2000: Rapes per 100,000 people:
Canada | 78.08 | “Simple Possession”, Loli Manga Banned |
Australia | 77.79 | “Simple Possession”, Loli Manga De Jure Banned |
USA | 32.05 | “Simple Possession”, Loli Manga Banned (Constitutionally Invalid) |
Sweden | 24.47 | “Simple Possession”, Loli Manga Banned |
UK | 16.23 | “Simple Possession”, Loli Manga, BDSM to be Banned |
France | 14.36 | “Simple Possession” |
S. Korea | 12.98 | “Simple Possession” |
Germany | 9.12 | “Simple Possession” |
Russia | 4.78 | |
Taiwan | 4.08 | |
Japan | 1.78 | “Simple Possession” (Just introduced) |
“Simple Possession” laws refer to just possessing pictures being a crime – actually producing/distributing the pictures is a crime in all these jurisdictions.
Note that the selection of countries here is provided by 2ch (I added in Australia as it is of interest), and so naturally has an agenda. See them for yourself, or alternatively check the UNSD.
It seems that it is the rest of the world which lags Japan…
Does Child Pornography Foster Sex Crime?
Source: National Police Agency – Rape Statistics
Total Crimes | Minors | Under Primary School Age | Primary School | Middle School | Minors Over Middle School Age | |
1960 | 2533 | 54 | 428 | 479 | 1572 | |
1965 | 3135 | 76 | 414 | 626 | 2019 | |
1970 | 1996 | 29 | 169 | 274 | 1524 | |
1975 | 3704 | 1718 | 29 | 225 | 308 | 1156 |
1980 | 2610 | 1117 | 19 | 143 | 210 | 745 |
1985 | 1802 | 855 | 4 | 126 | 224 | 501 |
1990 | 1548 | 702 | 2 | 55 | 91 | 554 |
1995 | 1500 | 606 | 1 | 45 | 71 | 489 |
2000 | 2260 | 1006 | 4 | 60 | 146 | 796 |
2005 | 2076 | 875 | 3 | 41 | 165 | 666 |
2006 | 1948 | 808 | 3 | 46 | 151 | 608 |
“Loli material, whether as young idols, loli manga, eroge or similar, only started to become common in Japan during the mid 1980s. The first ban of such material was in 1999.”
“You may be able to trick people starved of information, but you can’t trick the Net.”
PLease read the data carefully… it speaks about REPORTED crimes. This means that if you live in a crappy country, there will be no tell about your r♥♥e..
HOW CAN ITALY be above turkey, tunisia when 75% of the rapers there are moroccoan, turkish, or comes from tunisia????!!!!!
damn all those nub out there for doing such thing to little girls and women but i still wonder the chart sure seem high for crimes
Well, I sent a letter, I hope everyone does, to their local MP, Senator, Overseer, or whatever leads you in your town, (adjusted for the case in question)
To whom it may concern,
Recently, it has come to my attention that viewing cartoons representing crimes was a crime in and of itself. With that regard in mind, I wish to admit accomplice to murder because I watched an episode of the cartoon “The Simpsons” in which a character, one Milhouse, was killed by the school board faculty member during a “Halloween special”. I wish to report this crime to you, and have copied a form sent to the police station, in accordance with the new local law set by (case and or constitutional amendment). I have heard in the United States a man has received 20 years in prison for not reporting a comparatively minor crime as pornography when depicted in a cartoon, and so for crimes of a more serious nature, such as murder, I will aim to keep you, and the police force, informed to make sure the sick bastards who watch this get their due. I expect a due diligance investigation to take place, my tax dollars are to be well spent protecting the integrity of fictional cartoon characters everywhere and to crucify the bastards who would dare try to kill them. After all, cartoon violence is just as linked to first degree murder as cartoon porn is to r♥♥e, so I hope to see everyone who aided in this crime put in the slammer.
PS: I know for a fact my neighbor is an accomplice to this murder, and there is likely to be vigilante justice for this sort of complacency, he was laughing as the murder took place. Laughing! I am willing to testify against him, check the records on his system, you will see the offending episode.
I will not rest until fictional violence, be it cartoon or movie, is completely removed! Or, of course, (court case/constitutional law) is overturned, since if it is allowed to be cruel to cartoon characters, there is no fault.
I leave this message Anonymous, in the spirit of the concerned average citizen.
~Anon
If you expose a man to grandma porn since he was 5 years old, do you think he would be obsessed with gradnmas? NO!! He would be scarred for life and probably turn gay!!
The truth is that there is as much grandma porn as there is l♥♥i porn on the internet, and by the femnazis logic, the grandma porn should have offsetted the l♥♥i porn, which it didn’t.
Therefore banning l♥♥i will NOT have any effect on what a man’s inborn desires are. Femnazis FTL.
f♥♥k yourslef
Japan has long stood fast on the same censorship, and has been the fastest declining sexual violence crime rate in the world.
Japanese censorship rules, adult material is allowed under the condition it is properly censored and no genital areas are displayed uncensored, language is mild but uncencored in any case. This includes martial viewable by adults and children.
Further more, “l♥♥i” or “Lolicon” is not actually i type of adult material, but material in which a younger person under 16 is viewed as sexually attractive usually by obsessive innocence being the primary attraction. Semi adult “l♥♥i” scenes are newer but often follow similar restrictions.
The thing about Japans opponents in these debates, they heavily censor all material, but also have far higher crime rates.
My personal Verdict, Maybe The world needs to worry less about Japans ways, and try to understand why the looser nature of Japans ways are breeding generation less likely statistically to commit such crimes.
My theory, Younger more innocent people becoming aware of such things before they fully understand them, may help them to understand on a subconscious level, that they are wrong. This would effectively increase the morality of people, and leave less question on the morality of entertainment content.
This may in fact me very wrong, but is only a theory from an outsider. Regardless Stats have always placed Japan as one of the lowest crime rate countries in the world, and as having one of the highest average intelligence levels in the world.
My Suggestion, and I am happy to be quizzed on why,(lorddeville@yahoo.co.uk) Maybe countries should think less about making Japan like them, and more about being like Japan, as it is meeting the aims they continuously fail at.