Where is the Line Between Fantasy and Reality?

It wasn’t until June, 2014 that Japan banned possession of real images of child sexual abuse. In 2013, Japan’s police agency reported 1,644 offences since the 1999 act that outlawed the production and distribution of images of sexual abuse of children. This shockingly came 21 years after the UK. Also in 2013, the US State Department described Japan as an “international hub for the production and trafficking of child pornography.”

However, despite these acts Japan’s high cultural industry of manga still depicts children engaged in sexually explicit acts. It’s a disturbing thought but one that is not highly condoned. It certainly would be considered controversial at best and potentially illegal in countries such as the UK, Australia or Canada but in Japan it’s no big deal.

In fact, at a recent Sunshine Creation convention there were many stands displaying comics with this kind of disturbing content in them. One of the event organisers, Hide, says;

“Everyone knows that child abuse is not a good thing. But having that kind of emotion is free, enjoying imagining some sexual situation with a child is not prohibited.”

He then introduces the word "Lolicon", short for "Lolita complex" - the name for manga featuring young girls engaged in sexually explicit scenarios. It can involve incest, rape and other taboos, though Hide's tastes lie more with high-school romance.

"I like young-girl sexual creations, Lolicon is just one hobby of my many hobbies," he says. It is not just him however. When speaking of his wife’s opinion of his ‘hobby’; "She probably thinks no problem," he replies. "Because she loves young boys sexually interacting with each other."

Although material like this is not a huge part of Japan’s manga industry, it does attract a lot of attention. At the time of the June 2014 banning of real images of children, there were calls to also outlaw ‘virtual’ sexual images. This included characters in manga, anime and games. There was much debate in the Japanese Parliament but eventually they decided against it.

Sexual material involving adolescents is not uncommon, in fact it is a fairly mainstream interest in Japan. Japan’s legislators were apparently reluctant to put large numbers of manga fans on the wrong side of the law.

Fans like Hide argue they are just enjoying harmless fantasy. No child models or actors are involved, he says, so "there is no child abuse for creating sexual topic mangas".

Tokyo’s Akihabara district is the spiritual home of manga with bookshops lining the streets selling manga on every topic. In their adult sections, it is not difficult to find titles such as ‘Junior Rape’ or ‘Japanese Pre-teen Suite.’

"People get sexually excited by something, then become used to it," says Tomo, who works behind the counter in one of the adult stores. "So they are always looking for something new, and get sexually excited by young, immature women."

What is most worrying about the lackadaisical approach to outlawing virtual child pornography is that even if nobody is harmed in the creation of sexually explicit manga then it might normalise, facilitate, or even lead to an increase in sexual abuse.

Does this make Japan a society that turns a blind eye to extreme pornography; the sexualisation of young people?