Japan's Bill 156 - Ban on Anime
Source Post: Bill 156
So I don’t generally talk about anime news on the site, but this recent bill was brought to my attention and I wanted to give my two cents on it. A little background and quick summary of the post I believe is in order so let us start with that:
The bill was first made public November 22, 2010 and has passed. I was looking around for petitions against the bill online with no luck (who takes those online petitions seriously anyway). The general bill doesn’t ban ALL anime per say, but you will see why I titled this post as such later. The first half of the bill states that minors will have restricted access of internet on cellphones to prevent the viewing of 18+ rated material. This will be expanded to anime and manga but not include real life pictures or footage according to Dan Kanemitsu’s post. All publishers who bring out new “unfit” material will be punished if they released more than six in a year. The filters will most likely also effect minor’s ability to surf the web on their computers by making programs more easily accessible. Long story short, I am indifferent to the filtering of internet access because it is an illegal act to look at 18+ material as a minor and I’m completely against the punishment of publishers. Ok now let us get into more detail of the post…
So here are the sections that relate to minors having restricted access to the internet:
Tokyo will have the authority to suggest how minors have access to information through their cell phone based on the user’s age, to in order to make such changes, the Governor (or his office) has to heed advise from cell phone service industry people, parental guardians of minors, those with background in education, and etc.I can’t say that I am against the idea of filtering, as I said before it is illegal to watch that type of material in the first place if you are a minor, but I don’t encourage it either. Three reasons specifically: 1) Filters can only do so much, 2) the filter will probably block more than it should and 3) finally…
Currently, when minors (0-17) in Tokyo sign up for a cell phone service that included Internet access, the Internet filtering is activated by default, but parents can ask for the filtering to be turned off. This clause would make it much more difficult for parents to deactivate Internet filtering on their children’s cell phone.I don’t think that having the filter on by default is a good idea. It is up to the parents to be responsible and block the kid as they deem fit. I don’t think anyone should have restricted access, but having the option for your child doesn’t hurt. Now, most may say that having it on by default isn’t too bad, a lot of programs do the same. Well here is another reason why a “default filter” isn’t so great:
If a parental guardian wishes to deactivate a minor’s cell phone’s Internet filtering, they must submit a written request to their cell phone service provider where they recognize that it will be the parental guardian’s responsibility to make sure the minor’s Internet access is properly supervised AND that the reason for deactivation is recognized as being justifiable by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.By making the deactivation steps difficult and have a possibility of being rejected most parents wouldn’t bother following through. As of now it seems like they want to enforce these laws because parents are too busy for their kids. The way I see it a lot of teenagers are going to be sad about this bill being passed for this reason alone. Remember, all of the filtered sites will be designated by Tokyo Metropolitan Government, so arguing is most likely out of the question. Placing that kind of power in government seems a bit drastic for a few kids watching porn on their cellphones.
Any manga, animation, or pictures (but not including real life pictures or footage) that features either sexual or pseudo sexual acts that would be illegal in real life, or sexual or pseudo sexual acts between close relatives whose marriage would be illegal*, where such depictions and / or presentations unjustifiably glorify or exaggerate the activity.
Any sexually arousing posing on the behalf of children under the age of 13 wholly or partially naked, or wearing swimwear or only underwear, published in books or featured in film, must take into account of how the child’s mind and body may be harmed by becoming the object of sexual desire, and therefore parental guardians must exercise parental responsibilities to prevent and educate minors from becoming featured in such work or child pornography.I’m not one for child pornography, but the description seems too vague. The problem is still placing too much power in the government to deem what is fit and unfit for audiences. I can also see this creating a landslide of new laws that bans any viewing of material with parts of “unlawful” content. This makes be believe that classic anime like Perfect Blue and Serial Experiments Lain will be banned due to scenes of sex/underwear. Perfect Blue’s rape scene is rather graphic, but it is also a key scene in the anime. In Serial Experiments Lain the main character (roughly age 13) is sitting in her underwear working on her computer. The scene has nothing to do with that fact, but will that be considered pornographic according to the government? Also what classifies as “sexually arousing”? I’m sure there are people out there who don’t need a girl to pose to be turned on. Would this eventually just lead to the complete ban of women in anime?
I’m not one for ecchi, but according to this bill most anime that come out would have to go straight to DVD (or never published). Anime like To Aru no Majutsu Index, Star Driver, Nurarihyon no Mago, Kuragehime, etc. may not air on television because of the occasional sexual scene. Doesn’t seem fair in my opinion. Speaking of unfair, here is a little cut of the bill that caught my eye…
Publishers that have over 6 works deemed to be harmful material within a one year period by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government shall be subject to referral to their respective self-regulatory bodies for addressing the repeated offenses. Any further breaches within the following 6 months, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government will have the authority to release the name of the company to the public, and the Governor will have the authority to issue opinions and evidence to support that opinion.Not only are they restricted the design ideas of publishers, they also wish to publicly humiliate them if they continue. Public humiliation should NEVER be used as a tactic for business. Not only am I against the restriction, the method of enforcement is ridiculous.
Since I am not supported of most of the bill and indifferent to the rest, I would have to say I want this bill to fail. I feel that it will just create a gateway to anime banning across Japan (and the world). The bill wont be altered and they can’t pick out specific sections of the bill to pass either. I’m hoping that this is one of those “message bills” that are simply used to express someone’s opinion using an extreme method, but ultimately bound to fail. If anyone has any additional information or opinions about the bill please post below and let us know.