Tokyo Manga Ban Signs Into Law

[Dr. Jerk]

I found this:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/editorial/2010-12-28

It's a very good editorial on how this bill got passed. I suggest anyone concerned about this law should read this.

[Dragonrider1227]

Interesting, though I didn't understand a lot of it ^^;

[Dr. Jerk]

While reading the thread about this editorial, I found this really good post by someone named Ittoujou that explains a lot things.

After reading this article, I definitely found support for what I had suspected - that this bill was simply a gambit in play for the purpose of a larger cause that has nothing to do with the actual issues the bill encompasses. After having the initial bill defeated, if the Tokyo government gave up on it right then, they might have lost face with their constituents, after they'd pushed it so hard, so they went back in to re-tool the bill, thinking if they could pull a win, their efforts over the entire year would be vindicated.

The mistake is thinking it's about anime, manga, and video games, when it isn't. It's actually about politicians and elected officials wanting to preserve their incumbency by showing to voters that they took bold steps to protect children while the other guys supported evil media that was peddling rape and incest. Never mind that those promoting the bill never had to really state what the planned effectiveness of this bill was, or acknowledge that the publishing industry was already largely self-governing in this respect. When you summon the almighty "But think of the children!" gambit, it strikes a chord with a large percentage of the average voting public every time. It's like the reverse-polarity counterpoint to the "If you compare someone/something to Hitler/Nazis in an internet argument, you lose" - the first one to call "I'm doing it for the children!" in a political play has the moral high ground, and the opposition is suddenly on the defensive.

I think there are a couple points the opposition to bill 156 should've called out, though. The foremost, in my mind is the creation of "second class citizens" of media, due to anime, manga, and video games falling under the censure of this bill, while novels and live-action TV/movies escape all of the bill's regulatory effects. That's a golden example of a hypocritical double standard, and were it my argument to make, I would have called the Tokyo politicians on that and asked them how they came to that decision. Either certain content is bad enough to warrant government regulation - and if it is, it is bad enough to be so regardless of the media in which it is presented - or it's not bad enough to warrant govt. regulation, and in that case why is this bill even being pushed along? That this was never explained and (to my knowledge) no one ever tried to brooch the issue in a debate strikes me as odd, especially when it presents such a gaping hole in the logic behind the bill.

The best I can hope for is this bill being a feint - basically, a trophy win Tokyo's politicians can take home, put on their fridge, and point out, "See? We did something in legislature today mom!" If they only do some token enforcement and don't press the issue much, they win, and the publishing industry remains largely unaffected. If the politicians want to play hardball with the issue, though, I would hope to see the publishing industries of those media hit Tokyo back where it hurts them - financially. For that reason, I applaud the move of manga publishers to drop Tokyo Anime Fair like a rock, pick up their ball and bat, and take their game elsewhere (apparently, creating their own counter-event in Chiba). It's natural for politicians to want to do things to make their careers safer, but when they do so at the cost of curtailing freedom of expression, writers, readers, and publishers are well within their means to say, "We think you're off your rocker, we're going to fight this tooth and nail, and if you keep these acts up, we're going to make efforts to keep fans of anime and manga from patronizing your city for events such as conventions."

As far as I've read, the scope of this bill isn't as vast as a lot of alarmists seem to think it is, and I take that as a small comfort, but it's more the precedent this sets for irrational legislation being passed without having to prove its merit that I find troubling.

[Xenops]

That's interesting Dr. Jerk, I sure hope that the bill doesn't actually legislate and encourage action against manga and anime, at any point.

[Dragonrider1227]

I see. It could be more of an ego stroking move than anything else. I've heard of Japanese politicians pulling this before. Hope that's the case here.

[Dr. Jerk]

What made me go 'lolwut', was the whole fish market relocation thing. Now that's just wrong, trying to ignore something that is clearly dangerous and would easily ruin their fishing industry.

[Dragonrider1227]

Totally. Especially since fishing is such a huge economic thing for Japan.

[Anime Girl]

I hope the ban doesn't pass. I mean I don't like ecchi, but violense being taken out? Seriously? I like action in anime and manga,but if the violense is taken out, the good shows like Naruto, Bleach or even Astro Boy might be cancled. And it'll be the end of the world! THE WORLD IS DOOMED, DOOMED, DOOOOOOOOOMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think you should change your name from Anime Girl to Drama Queen.

Sorry yall had to see that.

[Alittleacorn]

I can understand if it's violence like Elfen Lied (anybody see that? it's gory o_o ) but full violence in general...we'll all be DOOMED!

Funnily enough I'm finding this exciting XD

[Dr. Jerk]

They wouldn't cancel out stuff, they'll just be moving MORE stuff into the 18+ rating that could actually go for a lower rating, but Japan doesn't have ratings in-between.