Erotic Manga to be Banned?

[Tragic]

Yeah.... I thought Kryss was still in Canada.

Did I miss something? >__>

[Karo Rushe]

Tad Late, this came on December 23:

A few days after it stood by as the anime industry was humiliatingly singled out for a ban, the Japanese government is now announcing a plan to quadruple anime and game exports.

Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, historically notorious for interfering with any industry it thinks it can run better than the private sector, has decreed that as part of its “Cool Japan” strategy the nation’s content industries will increase their exports fourfold by 2020.

The very cool sounding “Cool Japan Public-Private Advisory Council” is looking to oversee an increase in “cultural” exports (singling out content industries such as anime and games, as well as fashion and food) of between 2 to 4 times, to as much as 200 billion dollars from the current 50 billion. It expects anime, games and so forth to account for some 35 billion dollars of this total.

It estimates the total size of the global market for such “cultural” goods will double in the same period, to 11 trillion dollars.

The scheme would see affected industries forced to endure “public-private partnerships” (i.e. businesses doing what civil servants tell them to, or else) in pursuit of growth, a strategy which has been the cornerstone of Japanese industrial policy in the post-war period, with mixed results – most notably, the ministry’s predecessor actually tried to stop Sony from producing electronics and Honda from producing cars.

Successful animation, comic and gaming industries are of course not known for state involvement – quite the contrary in fact.

Having Japan’s incompetent yet depressingly numerous civil servants and politicians try to take over the anime and game industries may in fact be the last thing they need, particularly with the state’s main interest in these industries so far being nothing but a series of efforts to ban and censor them, or bully them into “voluntary restraints.”

Coming just after the publishing industry was subjected to humiliating treatment at the hands of Tokyo’s government, it does seem likely that the ministry will find the industry less than welcoming at this stage – and what better way to start the plan off than by the cancellation of the Tokyo International Anime Fair?

This might actually be bad for the people of japan, it kinda looks like a start to becoming a country without freedom.

[Karo Rushe]

Not content with a devastating boycott of the Tokyo International Anime Fair, the anime industry has announced it will be holding a new event, the “Anime Contents Expo,” on the very same day as TAF and in neighbouring Chiba’s Makuhari Messe.

The Kadokawa-led alliance of publishers and mangaka who initiated the boycott of TAF in disgust at the Tokyo government’s mistreatment of their industry seem to have sealed the fate of TAF for good:

    As a result of of our opposition to the new restrictions, our group was most regrettably forced to withdraw our participation from the Tokyo International Anime Fair, the committee chairman of which happens to be Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara.

    However, we are most grateful to for the esteemed services of the Association of Japanese Animations in organising the event to date, as it has been exceedingly well received.

    On the other hand, we must consider the needs of fans anticipating the fair, and the necessity of a place in which to unveil all the new titles of spring and summer.

    As a result, we have settled upon a new event and a venue which should be spacious and convenient enough for all fans to attend – this event will be known as the “Anime Contents Expo.”

The event is to be held at Chiba’s massive Makuhari Messe convention centre, on the 26th and 27th of March.

By some extraordinary coincidence, these dates happen to be the same as those of the Tokyo Anime Fair.

The TAF organisers have so far expressed doubts over the future of the event, but have not cancelled it just yet – with no major anime or manga producers participating and another event mysteriously being held on the same dates, it seems rather unlikely they will get the 140,000 visitors they brag about.

messe-aerial.jpg

The Makuhari Messe itself is Japan’s second largest convention centre, with Tokyo Big Sight (best known as the venue for Comiket) being less than 10% larger, so it seems both events will be similar in maximum attendance.

Chiba itself is not necessarily politically safe ground for the industry, but the options in the Kanto region around Tokyo are quite limited for events of any great size – Yokohama is run by an admiring disciple of Ishihara and has a centre only 20% of the size of of Big Sight, and nearby Saitama is very pro-anime but has no large convention centre either.

Further afield, Osaka has a centre on par with Big Sight, but is also stuck with a governor who has already copied and passed Tokyo’s ban. Nagoya has a cosplaying mayor and a convention centre almost half the size of Big Sight, which may yet prove useful if Chiba decides to bite the hand that feeds it.

Thus it would seem the Ishihara-induced anime exodus out of Tokyo has begun – it seems unlikely they will be able to return until Ishihara is out of office, which may be some time in coming considering that the people of Tokyo have in their great wisdom elected him to the office three times already.

Hopefully, this means new hope?

[Flyvåpnet]

"By some extraordinary coincidence, these dates happen to be the same as those of the Tokyo Anime Fair."

LOL!  I love it!  Thanks, Karo, for keeping us informed about these goings-on.  The spine being shown by the industry contrasts nicely with the stupidity of the Tokyo electorate.



=^..^=

[Karo Rushe]

This just in: (January 14)

Osaka’s manga ban is already in effect, and as the above list from a shop demonstrates, has already seen dozens of publications banned from general sale as “harmful publications.”

Unlike Tokyo’s ban, Osaka’s ordinance is mostly concerned with banning BL manga – with the Tokyo ban being extremely vague and covering everything from general manga to anime and games, the list there is likely to be much longer, and effectively national in scope due to the largest market and concentration of publishers both being in Tokyo

=====================================================================================

80% of Japanese asked whether they support Tokyo’s manga ban report that they oppose it, and a further 81% consider it an attack on freedom of expression.

The survey, published by right-wing rag Sankei, asked 6,399 people (4,305 men and 2094 women) for their opinions on Tokyo’s Ishihara-led attack on manga.

When asked “do you agree that extreme depictions of sex should be restricted by the ordinance?”, 80% opposed the law.

Furthermore, 81% agreed when asked “do you think this law constitutes a restriction on freedom of expression?”

Some of the majority opinions from survey respondents:

    “If writing manga which depicts illegal activity is against the law now, then it is not fair to apply the law without also banning all historical and yakuza manga. This is the worst law possible, sure to ruin Japan’s great manga culture. Manga should be free, it mustn’t be censored”

    “The Tokyo government didn’t adequately discuss this with the publishing industry, yet passed a ban anyway – isn’t that strange? Also, I am not at all convinced by the Tokyo governor’s prejudiced statements.”

    “There is no scientific basis for the notion that if you read sexually explicit manga it’ll turn you into a sex criminal, and there is a major issue with passing a ban with no basis in scientific fact.”

    “This is only going to push young people’s access to sexual material underground, and that is sure to have an adverse effect on their healthy development.”

[Flyvåpnet]

Thanks for the update, Karo.   This response by one of the survey takers is quite impressive:

There is no scientific basis for the notion that if you read sexually explicit manga it’ll turn you into a sex criminal, and there is a major issue with passing a ban with no basis in scientific fact.

"Amen!" to that.  Plus, where are actual experts in behavioral science whilst this Ban-O-Rama is taking place?  What about experts in the social sciences?  Are they all hiding?  Conniving politicians and gullible "soccer moms" surely don't comprise any gold standard of deliberative, scientific analysis; but it would seem corporate journalists can't find anyone with actual scientific expertise in relevant fields of study.



=^..^=

[0235]

similar (in a very vague way) to what fly said, if they ban somehting with no proof, then that will be a problem.
i have a HUGE love (addiction?) for computer games, and if violent ones were banned without any scientific evidence i would get annoyed, hell, i would have no way of letting my anger out and probarbly shoot someone a few years down the line

the point is that maybey this maga which has been banned could have been an outlet for some people, and withthat outlet gone what do they do, they cant make their own manga, that would be no fun, they might end up commiting in real life.

that is just my theory, and an opinion, with no scientific facts, so if you ignore it, im completely happy, because i have no proof

[Silent K]

Since Golden week starts today (Friday, April 29), I got to stay up late and watch Milky Holmes on TeleTama for the first time, and damn is that show funny! I thought it was just a moe show, but it's got a good sense of humor as well.

[Kov]

For sure SK, I thought it was hilarious at some points.
It was different that they lost their powers and the entire series was them trying to get them back.
It was based off a card game which surprises me more.
Also the VA came to London a while back which is kinda cool.

btw why did you post in this thread?

[Tragic]

Since Golden week starts today (Friday, April 29), I got to stay up late and watch Milky Holmes on TeleTama for the first time, and damn is that show funny! I thought it was just a moe show, but it's got a good sense of humor as well.

Yeah man. It's a funny show. xD