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Japan embraces pedophiles and incests in manga world?
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Manga is popular Japanese comics that allows many Japanese people to escape from a stressful reality. Anything from pedophilia to incest is not only allowed but also endorsed or embraced in manga world. Needless to say, the international community was outrageous when Japanese government conveniently left its manga industry out of the category of child pornography when criminalizing child pornography, Even when banning them, Japanese government had to bite the bullet and made a reluctant decision under the pressure of the international human rights organization. In an effort of protecting its sizable comics industry, Japanese government therefore made a clear distinction between manga/anime and child pornography.
What is manga/anime?
According to the book "understanding manga and anime," it is nothing like a story of Superman or Spiderman. The author states the stereo type that Japanese manga has on page vii : "it's all porn, it's damaging to kids, it's not literature." Also, some manga portrays "the other," world, which is full of different values and obscure customs. Perhaps, manga draws and maintains its readership by promoting unfamiliar and unconventional stories that are sometimes directly contradicts to the ethical values in reality.
Sexual perversion is just romantic in the manga world.
Angel Sanctuary, a popular comic book in Japan, portrays a classic example of how sexual perversion is presented as a romantic but only a complex relationship. The main character, an angelic hero and his sister fall in love with each other. The story builds up on their struggles to be together and consummate their love.
Loveless, another manga comics, is a story of a twelve years old boy falling in love with a twenty years old man, Ritsuka. After losing his brother, the twelve years old boy meet Soubi, who claims to be his brother's friend. Soubi tells the boy that he has inherited his brother's role through a mysterious process, which is a role that requires an intense physical connection with Ritsuka. Soubi also draws on strength by kissing or caressing Ritsuka. Loveless further describes the characters who accuse Soubi as pedophile and pervert as opponents.
Manga creates confusion of moral standard in the minds of readers
Needless to say, many people who visited Japan testify that pedophilia and other sexual perversion are wildly accepted by the culture. It is not because the Japanese society clearly supports the culture of sexual perversion in the society. But it is because manga convinced many Japanese to accept sexual immorality and perversion as different life styles.
Is no one really hurting in this picture?
One may argue that the greatest harm that can be done to anyone or any culture by manga is it portrays women's bodies in fantasy, which has nothing to do with the reality. The U.S. government research, however, clearly shows a close correlation between child molesters and their possession of child pornography. Furthere, the U.S. Ambassador in Tokyo, Japan explains the influence of child pornography on sexual violence in the society. He cited that according to the 2007 U.S. government study, 85% of convicted child molester admitted possession of child pornography.
Does Japan cares about manga's influence of spreading sexual perversion?
No way. For Japanese government, its economic ambition is, as it has been since 19C, much more important than the notion of commercializing children and women. Apparently, Manga industry retains 40% of its entire publishing industry in Japan. Furthermore, the market is only growing internationally as the readership is expanding throughout the South Asian region as well as Western countries. Hey, Japan is the country,where the expansion policies sold its own teenagers to sex industry abroad decades ago. Why would it allow a mere fantasy world for incests and pedophiles to affect its emerging cultural imperialism?
The U.S. is not immune to the influence of manga
A manga collector in the U.S. was charged for possessing manga that included sexual images of children and is facing 15 years in jail. A research paper warning Indonesian public of manga's penetrating cultural effect on Indonesian youths further shows that the influence of manga is not limited to Japan alone.
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