Translation of the summary of the conference held on the 26th of June as from this blog here.
In all it actually did not go too bad because Edano and Hosaka have done a really good job arguing against the changes proposed by the LDP and Komeito which was obviously overdoing it.
Edano and Hosaka have become the new heroes, with people on 2ch repeatedly speaking of sending monetary contributions to the two of them to show their support.
Also Hanashi Yasuhiro has just made enemies with all the Johnny’s fans. Apparently he does not understand the meaning of fear.
Statements by Hanashi Yasuhiro (Liberal Democratic Party):
Anybody in possession of child porn should be arrested, even if it came into their possession via email, physical mail, FAX, or any other methods
People should already know if an email contains child porn or not before they actually open it
Otherwise they could just think of all email as child porn
It doesn’t matter if it’s a film, book, or of a famous actress, any film, book, or photo that features an under 18 person nude should be thrown away at once
Anybody in possession of Miyazawa Rie’s Santa Fe after the change in law will be arrested if they do not dispose of it [1]
I’ve never seen Miyazawa Rie’s Santa Fe but it’ll be banned
The government should be able to check all previously released works across all media and be able to tell us which ones are child porn and which ones aren’t
If the person looks young and is wearing a school uniform, we’ll interpret it as child porn
If one of the boys in Johnny’s show a nipple, it’s child porn too
We can see if something is child porn or not with our own eyes, there’s zero consideration for any artistic merits
For pictures that have accidentally gotten into a person’s hard drive, we can check the number of times the image has been accessed in order to determine if it was really an accident
In the case of photos or magazines, it will be determined to not be an accident if they look old and used or have a lot of dirty fingerprints on them
There will not be any problems with people being falsely charged, I don’t know of any cases in other countries where possession of child porn is illegal
There is no better evidence than confessions from people
The police good natured people, so they won’t force confessions and create cases where there is miscarriage of justice
If we want to discuss the fear of being wrongly accused, it’s possible to even put a gun in somebody’s bag anyway
The negative influences of manga, anime and games will be researched and we plan to put new restrictions on them 3 years later
If we accept the changes proposed by the Democratic Party of Japan, we will be unable to arrest people that have gotten child porn material as part of an inheritance
Statements by Maruya Kaori (New Komeito party):
Child porn is so bad that it makes me cry
The changes proposed by the Democratic Party of Japan would allow a person to get 100 free pictures at once and it would be legal
The problem of being wrongly accused should not matter if the person gets 100 pictures at once, even if it was not deliberate
It’s outrageous that the changes proposed by the Democratic Party of Japan changed the term of “child porn” to something else
Statements by Edano Yukio (The Democratic Party of Japan):
The proposal by the Liberal Democratic Party(LDP) and Komeito is really vague in how it defines child porn as a child under 18 who is missing a portion of or all of his/her clothes
The changes proposed by the LDP and Komeito defines criminal intent by “possession for sexual purposes”, which is something that more defines somebody’s feelings, which will create a problem of miscarriage of justice as the evidence will mainly be based on confessions
In order to prevent miscarriage of justice, the investigations have to be transparent, but the ruling party is refusing any discussions on this
Even in the Ashikaga case, a false confession was accepted [2]
Miscarriage of justice is something that actually happens, and it should be the duty of the lawmakers to prevent such cases from happening
Unlike guns or drugs, child porn is information and it is too easy to get a hold of it (so we should not compare child porn to guns or drugs)
The LDP and Komeito have not taken any measures at all to prevent any miscarriage of justice
Even with the changes proposed by the Democratic Party of Japan, it is still possible that works with artistic value will become classified as child porn
Statements by Hosaka Nobuto (Social Democratic Party):
I don’t think Miyazawa Rie’s Santa Fe was child porn made as the result of sexual abuse to children
The LDP and Komeito’s proposal lists “possession for sexual purposes” as one of the criteria, who’s going to decide if it was for sexual purposes or otherwise?
It will be hard to determine the part that defines child porn as “in an appearance which is missing part of or all of his/her clothes”
If the LDP and Komeito’s proposal is approved, it will not be just the obscene material that will have to be destroyed, but even the ones with artistic merits as well
Works with artistic value should not be labeled as child porn
Manga, anime, and other artistic material should be exempted from child porn
—Statements by professionals asked to speak as reference—
Statements by Maeda Masahide (Tokyo Metropolitan University Professor in Criminal Law) :
It bothers me that if the propositions by the Democratic Party of Japan are accepted, we will be unable to make arrests in the cases where there are photos of children in swimsuits but are not exposing any sexual organs
Instead of only being concerned with the exposure of sexual organs, we should expand the law so it covers cases where sexual organs are not exposed too
It is ridiculous to argue that anime and games may be decreasing the amount of sex crimes [3]
Tightening censorship regulations is the current trend in the world, Japan should do the same too
Statements by Ichiba Yoriko (Attorney)
The law defining child porn as a child under 18 who is missing a portion of or all of his/her clothes is too vague and will not help in saving any children at all
The proposition by the LDP and Komeito does not put any consideration for the child’s mental care and other factors to care for during investigation, there is nothing in there that will directly save any children at all
The censorship of anime and games is completely unrelated to protecting the children, this should be handled under a different law
Statements by Agnes Chan (Japan Unisef ambassador)
Japanese are taking photos of and selling child prostitution in South East Asia [4]
90% of Japanese support to make it illegal for possession of child porn [5]
Before the child porn law was established in 1999, it was possible to buy child porn in the convenience stores [6]
There are 1 million victims to child porn already [7]
Foreign countries are condemning Japan for not making possession of child porn illegal
There are victims of child porn just behind her
Miyazawa Rie’s Santa Fe is child porn
People under the age of 18 do not need to make swimsuit photo gravures, it should not be allowed for people to buy, keep, or view it
I have been threatened by the people online who are against the changes
Statements by Tajima Yasuhiko (Sophia University Professor who specializes in constitution and information media)
It is preferable to accept the proposal by the Democratic Party of Japan as it creates clear definitions in place of the vague definitions of child porn in the current law
Foreign countries have outlawed possession of child porn, but they have created exceptions for stuff that have cultural, scientific or artistic value etc, they have shown consideration for the freedom of expression
Restricting creative works such as anime and games would be against freedom of expression
Main point of answer by the Director-General of the Criminal Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Justice:
We don’t have any data on the crime rates of the countries that have outlawed mere possession of child porn
[1] Santa Fe, published in 1991, is the best selling photo collection book to ever have been released in Japan, with over 1.5 million copies sold. The book was released at the peak of Miyasawa’s popularity and featured nude shots. She was 18 by the time the books hit the stores, but at the time of the photo shoot she was only 17 years and 10 months old.
[2] More info about the Ashikaga case here
[3] Then again the argument that anime and games may be decreasing sex crimes was really only made as a counter argument because they started saying that anime and games are encouraging sex crimes
[4] The Japanese are in the minority for child sex offenders arrested in 2007 and 2008 according to child wise (PDF)
[5] The survey was done on 3000 people but only 1827 answers were considered valid, out of the 1827, over 1000 of them were over the age of 50. A different survey conducted which leaned more towards males in their 20s had results showing 95% were against the law
[6] The child porn available in convenience stores were nude shots and gravure books, the term child porn generally gives an impression that it’s referring to material depicting children undergoing sexual abuse, so this can be a little misleading
[7] It is not known where she as gotten this number from, but in comparison to her number, the number of victims to child porn in Japan is between 300 to 400 a year
Edit: added two more footer notes I accidently left out
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June 27th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
-I have been threatened by the people online who are against the changes
Gee, I wonder why? Maybe because they are viewed as draconian by anyone who actually took the time out of their day to use a tiny amount of brain power to realize how moronic your statements are instead of jumping on the HURF DURF CP IS BAD bandwagon with you?
This is very interesting information regardless though, and I thank you for translating it.
June 27th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
>The censorship of anime and games is completely unrelated to protecting the children, this should be handled under a different law
i totally agree with that attorney
June 27th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Hanashi-san sounds like a bad troll.w
June 27th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
So this Miyazawa Rie is like Japan’s Traci Lords? That’s funny.
June 27th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Zepy, would please translate footnote number 6? Or is that not really that important?
June 27th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
still reading but
>There is no better evidence than confessions from people
good old japanese forced confessions
cmon kim, push the fucking button already
June 27th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
well, it doesnt surprise me
just like in america, the japanese are too fucking stupid to stand up and do anything about it.
as if whining about it in the safety of their rooms and on the internet is going to fucking do a fucking thing.
everyone else thinks someone else is gonna be the one to get hurt for the cause.
everyone else thinks someone else is gonna be the one to get arrested for the cause.
everyone else thinks someone else is gonna be the one die for the cause.
its this thinking that makes motherfuckers SIT ON THEIR FUCKING ASS.
that, and they would rather be entertained than do anything constructive.
it was a good run, now its gonna end. because no one is gonna do shit about it.
June 27th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
>everyone else thinks someone else is gonna be the one die for the cause.
thats what happens when you cut and paste
June 27th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
Americans, write your representative. Let them know that lolicon should stay legal. Let them know that 2d drawings of children do not harm real children. There is no real evidence that proves these cause people to go out and molest children. You shouldn’t go to jail over thought crimes and you shouldn’t go to jail for sitting alone in your room pleasuring yourself to a non-existent child.
Write your representative and let them know you won’t stand by quietly while they decide your life for you or we’ll wake up one day to see not only this illegal but also every sex position aside from missionary as well.
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
June 27th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Remember Remember, the fifth of november
June 27th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Next week it will be round 2 or something. This shit was dragging on for some time now, when will it finally end and loli will be saved?
June 27th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Eh, wasn’t the Communist party invited? I heard they are quite popular in Japan.
Here in Britain, one argument they’re using against drawn depictions of child sex is the possibility that paedophiles would show them to children as part of a grooming process. And such tactics may be super effective because children like cartoons, or some shit.
Read our sad story: [see link in name]
If I was bored or motivated enough I’d cut and paste the relevant bits (to a separate blog, I don’t mean to spam here, of course) oh well, you know how to ctrl-f, right? FYI, the Lords discussions only briefly touched on the cartoon CP issue, accepted it completely, moved on. It’s finished, it’s decided, it’s done.
June 27th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
“Gee, I wonder why? Maybe because they are viewed as draconian by anyone who actually took the time out of their day to use a tiny amount of brain power to realize how moronic your statements are instead of jumping on the HURF DURF CP IS BAD bandwagon with you?”
… and if fans think it’s perfectly reasonable to react to idiocy with THREATS OF VIOLENCE, then I wonder why a lot of idiots think these fans are irredeemably evil?
People, protest CONSTRUCTIVELY. Threatening to rape and kill everyone if you don’t get your way does not help your case. :)
June 27th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Agnes Chan needs to be BDSM and assraped.
By a shota
June 27th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Definitely agree with PornLovingFeminist. Threats of violence is not the way to protest. If you’re in Japan, organize or join some peaceful protest. Just like the Pirate Party’s protests against information censorship, keep it peaceful.
June 27th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
>Threats of violence is not the way to protest.
youre right. ACTUAL violence would make more heads turn.
japan needs a coup d’etat by the citizens. but japanese citizens dont have real weaponry to hold down shit. so fuck that idea.
June 27th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Lolicon isn’t CP.
Liking Loli is just as bad as liking CP though.
June 27th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
> Liking Loli is just as bad as liking CP though.
What if you don’t like CP but like loli? Drawn lolis are created to be artistically balanced and aesthetically perfect (like most fictional depictions), while real children are inherently “unfinished”, funny-looking creatures (after all, children are just work-in-progress humans).
June 27th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
I wonder how specific this will get in terms of anime and manga, as there is quite a difference between Manga and real life which it seems a lot of these people do not understand.
I would also like to thank you for translating and covering this and the ban on rape games story. They are very interesting reads.
June 27th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
I am disgusted by real CP but prosecuting someone because they own, look at, etc, loli manga/hentai/anime/whatever is just ridiculous.
For the record, I don’t like that, either.
Oh yeah, this reminds me of: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/12/08/1228584707575.html
“A Supreme Court judge has ruled that an internet cartoon, in which child characters resembling those from The Simpsons engage in sexual acts, is child pornography.”
That’s just stupid.
June 27th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
This doesn’t look completely hopeless yet. Crossing my fingers that it’ll turn out all right.
June 27th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
The sixth footnote is about the claim that Japan had more than 1 million of child abuse victims: it’s probably a lie. There were only 351 registered cases up to 2008.
June 27th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
>Demitron
Thank you for the translation.
June 27th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
Ahahaha. AHAHAHAHAHA!
Just as planned.
We can go back to the days of MD Geist at this rate!
June 27th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
For the sake of the future, you must all train yourselves to fap at the sight of Rob Liefeld’s men!
June 28th, 2009 at 12:53 am
Real CP is bad because a child is molested in making of it. But loli hentai are completely fictional. Banning it will not save any children. Hopefully some politicians will raise that point.
June 28th, 2009 at 1:18 am
Did anyone find Maruya Kaori’s statements to be demeaning in how lacking in substance they are? Another thing I can’t stand is how the LDP ignores the fact that there are miscarriages of justice by the incarceration of innocent people that from what I can tell is relatively common is Japan. Doesn’t it piss anyone off that the anti-loli people are lying to hell and back? Finally, I want to know what kind of irrational misanthropes vote for the LDP.
June 28th, 2009 at 1:27 am
…What.the.HELL?? are these guys for real? how in the world did we end up with people these retarded and completely, utterly delusional as influential representatives of politics and moral movements??
So what they’re basically saying is that they can arrest you, accuse you and punish you for shit you weren’t even aware of with made up evidence (with its validity left up to whatever is convenient for them) and by violating your rights. One of them is a dumbass who can’t even differentiate between a real child and a fictional one. Oh yes because everything in fiction is REAL and paper-children are suffering! Let’s not forget to throw out the window all the rights and laws and just go back to a tyrannical government!
How about caring about REAL children? how the hell is this gonna help children who are suffering right now, not only from child molesters, but from hunger, ignorance, labor laws, diseases, a screwed up orphanage system? We all know the fucking truth: they aren’t capable of doing any actual good and they just want money and attention. It’s a lot easier to whine about some doodles than help an actual human being. Hypocrites should stop and be honest or shut up over things they don’t even have an ounce of knowledge.
These people are a shame to everyone they represent and fail as human beings. They all need to resign from their positions and leave it to responsible, fully capable adults who have a lick of common sense.
June 28th, 2009 at 5:43 am
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/06/28/agnes-chan-moral-crusader-gravure-idol/
Not exactly one to tell people.
June 28th, 2009 at 5:47 am
んーいい天気ッスね、今日。
June 28th, 2009 at 6:38 am
>んーいい天気ッスね、今日。
wwww
June 28th, 2009 at 9:10 am
>> # Anonymous Says: June 28th, 2009 at 5:43 am
>> http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/06/28/agnes-chan-moral-crusader-gravure-idol/
>> Not exactly one to tell people.
1. Sankaku is run by and full of faggots.
2. How old was she? Do you or the sankaku faggots have any proof that she’s underage?
June 28th, 2009 at 10:05 am
^
“taken sometime in the early 1970s, when she was apparently not yet even into her twenties.”
There’s no mention of underage anywhere in the whole article nor did previous anonymous mention it himself. So what’s your point ?
June 28th, 2009 at 10:12 am
I see they have fallen wery deep. Government discussing cartoons…..
June 28th, 2009 at 10:14 am
It DOES sort of feel like watching an impending train collision…
June 28th, 2009 at 10:51 am
Celebrity cultists really are a universal plague, it seems. In America we’ve got Scientology, in Japan there’s Sokka Gakkai, Happy Science, etc.
June 28th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Actually, they are discussing (mostly) 3d child porn right now. If the bill gets passed as is, then they’ll research 2d stuff and debate on criminalizing that as well.
June 28th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Oh great, not more “Canned Dogs vs. Sankaku” drama. Stupid nerdfights like this are why otaku always end up losing; otaku can never get their shit together even in the face of a common threat.
June 28th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
>Celebrity cultists really are a universal plague, it seems. In America we’ve got Scientology, in Japan there’s Sokka Gakkai, Happy Science, etc.
In every country there are intelligent people, who can manipulate stupid shit people to get money and power.
June 28th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Let’s face it, Sankaku dramatizes news and sounds like a drama queen all the time.
June 28th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
> Actually, they are discussing (mostly) 3d child porn right now. If the bill gets passed as is, then they’ll research 2d stuff and debate on criminalizing that as well.
However, the arrest in Akihabara clearly shows that their intention to connect 3d with 2d as much as possible.
June 28th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
From Yasuhiro LDP, above
> The negative influences of manga, anime and games will be researched and we plan to put new restrictions on them 3 years later.
Meaning 2012, right? Wasn’t there something prophesied to happen on that year…
June 28th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
^
>>“taken sometime in the early 1970s, when she was apparently not yet even into her twenties.”
>>There’s no mention of underage anywhere in the whole article nor did previous anonymous mention it himself. So what’s your point ?
The point? This is about banning child porn. not swim suit photos of an adult.
June 28th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I think the issue would ensue for at least a few months… after both sides decided to forget about it and fix the economy.
On unrelated topic:
what’s with the animosty between canned dogs and sankakuC?
June 28th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
>what’s with the animosty between canned dogs and sankakuC?
I was about type a long response, but just do a search on this site about “ZUN on Touhou and derivative works”
June 28th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
loli pictures make people turned into nijikon so they will be even safer for the children
June 29th, 2009 at 4:10 am
If they say anime is the main cause of rape and stuff, then how come Japan is 54th in crime rate and U.S., which anime is not mainly distributed, is in 9th place? Doesn’t that cearly tell that anime is never the cause of crimes? I am really sick of the peoples, especially the americans, who are blaming anime for their mistake. If they are going to use this as an issue, then attack their own people frist. I mean, Japan is not the only country which makes anime or toon porn. There are many american artists who draws those thing too you know. What they need to do is fix their problems first instead of attacking the others.
June 29th, 2009 at 6:11 am
>Outraged Fan
“anime is the main cause of rape and stuff”
Give me a specific quote from a specific person who actually said that.
June 29th, 2009 at 10:50 am
Somebody save us!
FIGHT THE POWA
June 29th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Let’s start the akihabara raids by police. Shut down the whole street and cordon off everything.
Then dispense justice with brass and lead.
June 29th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
>loli pictures make people turned into nijikon so they will be even safer for the children
holy fuck, this should be nominated for the nobel fucking prize
June 30th, 2009 at 5:40 am
“…What.the.HELL?? are these guys for real? how in the world did we end up with people these retarded and completely, utterly delusional as influential representatives of politics and moral movements??”
Well - say hello to so called democracy.
July 2nd, 2009 at 9:54 am
Interesting times….
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Is this follow-up information to the Jun 26 conference?
http://tsushima.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/newsplus/1246545913
http://www.shugiin.go.jp/itdb_gian.nsf/html/gian/honbun/houan/g16901032.htm