Japanese Poll: 87% Accept Manga Child Porn Regulation

[bologna]

91% say that material should be regulated on the Internet
The Japanese government's Cabinet Office issued on October 25 the results of its Special Opinion Poll on Harmful Materials, in which 86.5% of those who responded said that manga and art should be subject to regulation for child pornography, if they had to decide. 90.9% said that "harmful materials" on the Internet should be regulated, if they had to decide. The current child pornography laws in Japan do not regulate manga and art that depict children who are not real, or "virtual child pornography."
The seventh of seven questions on the poll asked the following:

Under the current laws, manga (comics), art (illustrations), and other materials that depict sexual acts and other activities with fictional children are not subject to regulation. On this matter, there is the view that if fictional children are depicted, there is no problem since there is no harm being done to others. On the other hand, there is also the view that such comics and other materials promote the sexual objectification of minors and sexual crimes against minors, as well as the view that they should be regulated in the same way as photography, DVDs, and other materials that depict actual children.
How do you feel about regulation of such manga (comics) and art (illustrations)?
​

58.9% said that such manga and art "should be subject" to regulation. 27.6% said that "if I had to choose, they should be subject" to regulation. 6.6% said "if I had to choose, they should not be subject" to regulation. 2.5% said they "should not be subject" to regulation. 4.5% said that they did not know.
In earlier questions, 27.3% said they were aware or very aware of the details in the national debate on "harmful materials." 63.2% said that magazines, DVDs, and other harmful materials should be subject to nationwide regulation, while 21.8% said they should be regulated by individual prefecture. 80.8% said that the regulation of magazines, DVDs, and other harmful materials should be strengthened, while 13.8% said that the status quo is fine, and 1.0% said the regulations should be eased.
90.9% said that harmful materials on the Internet should be regulated or "should be regulated if I had to choose." 19.2% knew about mobile phone filtering, 29.% heard about it, and 51.2% did not know about it. 90.9% said that mere possession of child pornography should be regulated or "should be regulated if I had to choose," a slight increase from 90.5% in an August 2002 poll.
The poll asked 3,000 people over the age of 20 across Japan to respond from September 13 to September 23. (20 years old is the age of maturity in Japan.) 1,767 people (58.9%) responded. The poll was conducted by investigators in individual interviews.
Source: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-10-25/japanese-poll-87-percent-accept-manga-child-porn-regulation

 

[chompy]

 

[XXXXXXXXXXXX]

If there is such a consensus, why don't regulations exist already, or have such laws been deemed unconstitutional or something? If not, then what the fuck are Japanese politicians doing these days?

 

[godgundam10]

Oh, please. This bill has about as much chance as passing into law as the Dolphins and Rams have a chance of playing each other in the Super Bowl. If it did pass, then almost all hentai would be banned since the vast majority of anime characters are under 18. That would mean porn of Asuka, Haruhi, Konata or any other character would be banned because they're all under 18. It's not going to happen.

 

[mephisto2k]

Especially considering all those uncountable hentai games that hit the market and sell every year. This whole industry that is connected to hentai and anime will cruble. But maybe the jap. government got too much money to spend (i doubt so)...; but of course on the other hand issues like that should never be about money. But without people there is no market; so I wonder where were all those people that were required to build up such an industry now at the survey; guess they wasnt asked.

 

[mecmax]

all hentai artists need to do is apply "all characters depicted in the art are 18 or over." i think some artists already put this stamp of virtual age verification on their works. although it does seem to be rather ridiculous to have apply this to all their works.

and don't lots of industries cross product with hentai and manga stuff? im not talking about doujins but if i recall correctly lots of corporations deal with mainstream videos and programs and also deal with hardcore hentai/anime/jav.

i wonder how much outward pressure, mainly from those of protestant religious western countries, japan recieved to have to even strongly consider passing such regulation.

 

[Eternalrain]

:crash::sigh::nooo::abandoned::dies:

As a Lolikon, I highly dislike the Regulation. issed:
Can we just have a little bit freedom....:notagain:

 

[bay]

This is representative of Orwell's "Thought Crimes". No actual person is harmed. They just want to control your thoughts.

Very sad times we are living in. :miserable:

 

[LittleVexy]

If there is such a consensus, why don't regulations exist already, or have such laws been deemed unconstitutional or something? If not, then what the fuck are Japanese politicians doing these days?

Because politicians like a little sex after work... Look at all the gay republicans in USA. Even Bill Clinton got in on the action. :virtuous:

 

[cube]

So the Japanese are going to abolish lolis?:lols:

I think Japan would erupt in the flames of civil war before they let the government do it.

 

[bigboyofeq]

I find this rather suprising, since it's almost impossible to enforce. I mean, who is to decide what age my drawn character is...

 

[Denamic]

Once you do that, you have trespassed irreversible upon the freedom of speech and expression.

 

[msgundam2]

If they abolish lolicon manga/anime Then CP and CR will increase greatly. Its best for the bad pervs out there to look at the fake stuff then the real stuff.
Plus I like lolicon manga/anime and I don't want it to go away.

 

[Burning_Destiny]

I believe.. or rather, I want to believe that this will not happen. If this bill pasess through, It could trigger a massive uproar in the Japanese Community. There will be a rebellion; oho yes, Code Geass: Loli of the Rebellion!

 

[nosihc]

aren't they asking just the caberman society
I dislike loli,always a danger sense to it(more evil than porn...XD)

but as long as 99% of people don't abuse child in real,i don't think that can be a problem

 

[indreamsiwalk]

I checked the details of how the poll was conducted (and by whom), and I have no doubt that it is an accurate reflection of public opinion. I'm sure you would get similar results in the U.S..

But before you panic, keep in mind that it is easy for people--the vast majority of whom have probably never even seen lolikon hentai material--to say "It should be regulated." But how many of those people would actually take action to have such legislation enacted? Probably less than 0.1%. If you ask them, they'll say they care and are concerned, but they are not concerned enough to act.

The Diet has not yet passed such legislation, because most politicians know that it is easier said than done. Defining what should be regulated and how is an enormously complex problem. And then there is the pesky matter of the guarantee of freedom of expression in Japan's constitution.

In Japan, there are activists who have been pushing for such legislation for years. And there are activists who have been fighting against such legislation for years. (I personally know both kinds of activists.)

Let's just hope the Japanese do not pick up the "popular referendum" fever that has been sweeping the U.S. Most legislators and judges think popular referendums are a horrible way to make laws, but politicians are afraid to say so publicly, for fear of offending voters. It's easy to vote "yes" or "no" on a referendum, just as it is easy to say "yes" or "no" in response to a questionnaire, but making that into workable, constitutionally sound legislation is another matter entirely.

 

[wotaku]

I checked the details of how the poll was conducted (and by whom), and I have no doubt that it is an accurate reflection of public opinion.

Are you so sure? Almost half did not respond, which makes for a huge margin of error in selection (nonresponse bias.) Being an official poll, I imagine people who have unpopular views (or perceived as such) would be more likely to decline to answer and the opposite is as true. Also there is the question of the phrasing and framing. Calling it a poll on "Harmful Material" frames the issue as supporting the second view in the question that asks if they consider the material to be, well, harmful. Also it's been shown that the order the views are presented in influences poll results, the last view presented (that it is harmful) being the one on people's mind when they get to answering the question. The order should be switched for half of the sample or, better yet, the question should be phrased objectively and not in terms of "do you agree with a (completely unsupported, but of course that's not mentioned) view that answers the question for you?"

I'm sure the poll results are legit, but that doesn't answer the question of whether they are representative of the population or not...

 

[indreamsiwalk]

Naturally, I am not "sure" the results accurately represent public opinion. And as someone who has a bit of experience in creating questionnaires, I know there's no such thing as a perfect poll. I was speaking on the basis of 1) reading the poll questions and methodology and 2) twenty years of experience in Japan.

The poll was conducted along with a poll on strategies for fighting cancer. The cancer poll was conducted first. The poll was conducted in person, not by phone or mail, which means the pollster went directly to the home of the pre-selected individual and rang the doorbell. The 3000 individuals were selected by stratified random sampling.

1,233 of the individuals (41.1% of the total) were not included in the results for the following reasons:

They had moved (134)
They were away for an extended period of time (81)
They were not at home at the time (380)
Their current address was unknown (50)
They declined to answer to the poll (524)
Other reasons, such as illness (64)

So if you look only at the people who were actually able to respond and had a choice to do so or not, the percentage of those who declined was about 23%. Not bad. But because of the methodology, it was inevitable that women would be better represented than men (more women are at home at any given time than are men) and that people aged 60 years or older would be better represented than those below the age of 60 (because they're retired and more likely to be home, and have nothing better to do). Also, because of the Baby Boom, they are simply more Japanese aged 45 to 60 than they are of any other age group.

Here is the breakdown by age and gender:
View attachment 71263

The sample covers every prefecture in Japan, and includes people from big cities, medium-sized cities, small cities, suburban areas, and rural areas. The questionnaire was conducted by Shin Joho Center, Inc.

The title of the poll was "A Special Public Opinion Poll Regarding Harmful Information." The poll begins with a preface which the respondent was asked to read carefully before responding to specific questions:

In recent years, there has been an increase in the amount of the following information (called "harmful information") that is feared to have a negative influence on children:
(1) Sexual information, such as obscene images
(2) Violent depictions and cruel/brutal information
(3) Information that encourages suicide or crime
(4) Information that encourages the use of illegal narcotics or other dangerous things, etc.

Harmful information in magazines, DVDs, videos, video games, etc., is restricted in most prefectures through laws defining harmful reading materials or forbidding sale of such material to minors, but some have said the penalties are weak and that the laws are inconsistent from prefecture to prefecture. Furthermore, in the realm of the Internet, service providers and Internet cafes have created self-imposed regulations, but businesses that are not members of business associations are not subject to such regulations. There has also been an increase in the number of cases of children accessing harmful information on the Internet through such means as cellular phones and being victimized.

On the other hand, there is the opinion that in consideration of freedom of expression, no information of any kind should be restricted.

In response to this situation, the government has taken various steps, among them the creation in July 2007 of a "Commission to Study the Protection of Children from Harmful Information" which is proceeding with its studies based on the following five principles:

(1) To indicate the stance of the country
(2) To involve the entire society
(3) To grasp harmful information properly
(4) To create strategies that account for the distinctive nature of various harmful information
(5) To take into consideration the freedom of expression

There were seven questions in the questionnaire, but only the 7th was relevant to this thread. (The 6th was about possession of child pornography, which I think should be the subject of a separate thread.)

Before responding to the 7th question, respondents were asked to read the following carefully.

Current law does not apply to manga/comics or illustrations of sexual acts involving children who do not actually exist.

In regard to this, there is the opinion that if one is drawing a child that does not exist, no one is harmed, and therefore the law should remain as it is. On the other hand, there is the opinion that such comics promote the trend of viewing children sexually, and promote sexual crimes against children, and therefore that such material should be restricted in the same way as are photographs and DVDs and actual children.

The question was phrased thusly:

What do you think about whether or not such manga/comics and illustrations should be subject to regulation? Choose one answer only.

(A) They should be subject to regulation
(B) If I had to choose, I would say they should be subject to regulation
(C) If I had to choose, I would say they should not be subject to regulation
(D) They should not be subject to regulation
(E) I don't know

There were 820 male respondents and 947 female respondents. Here's how they answered by sex and age:
View attachment 71264

I hope that's not too difficult to decipher. Unsurprisingly, responses of men and women differed rather dramatically. What's surprising is that the gender difference was sharpest among younger (20-59) respondents. Among respondents aged 60 and older, women were actually slightly less inclined to support regulation than were men the same age.

The biggest gender difference was in the youngest (20-29) range. I'm guessing that is because this age bracket actually has a better grasp of what kind of lolikon manga are out there, and these Net-savvy women are more alarmed than are older women, who may only have a vague image of the material.

When you look at the subtotals for men and women, the difference does not seem that large (both sexes strongly favor regulation), but keep in mind that the response rate for the 20-29 age bracket was only about half that of the 50-70+ age bracket.

Another striking gap was between men below 30 and men above 30. 41.7% of men in their 20s believe such material should not be regulated, whereas only 17.4% of men in their 30s felt the same. I'm just guessing here, but I think one major factor is fatherhood. When you have a child of your own, the relative importance of freedom of expression and protection of children shifts quite dramatically. I know that was true in my own case. Perhaps other fathers on the forum can chime in.

Anyway you look at it, though, a majority of respondents favor some kind of regulation. The report included a comparison with a similar questionnaire conducted five years earlier, and the percentage of respondents favoring regulation has risen noticeably. I think we have to admit that this is a result of the fact that lolicon manga (and, more publicly, the whole shojo moe phenomenon) has become increasingly extreme. This is a natural backlash, IMHO. Commercial publishers are sensitive to this kind of backlash, and will "pull back" before the backlash results in actual legislation, but these days the biggest producers of lolicon manga are amateur dojinshi artists, who don't give a damn about public opinion. And since the dojinshi market has grown so large, it could end up dragging drown everything, including a big part of the junior idol industry. :dunno:

 

[indreamsiwalk]

Oh, I forgot to explain that I threw in the results for self-identified "housewives" because I thought it would be interesting to compare with the overall results. (The complete results include responses by occupation, region, etc.) Housewives turned out to favor regulation only slightly more than women as a whole.

I also forgot to mention than the margin for error in this survey was about +/-2%.

 

[wotaku]

Thanks a lot for the details and commentary, very interesting stuff.

I also forgot to mention than the margin for error in this survey was about +/-2%.

Though one must keep in mind that this is only the error margin for the sampling and doesn't factor other biases like the ones I mentioned (including nonresponse bias... 23% is not that good and the while the rest of non respondents may be less likely to introduce bias, it's still a possibility) and I think do apply and in some cases even more than I thought.

E.g the intro text frames the pro-'regulation' (another thing is regulation is not defined: I think health care, for example, should be regulated but that certainly doesn't mean I want to ban it... should be understood as an euphemism for criminalising I suppose... "regulating like CP", was it?) side as being reasonable and well thought but the opposing side as being only ideologically based and, to many, extreme. There's not only the viewpoint that no information should ever be regulated but that banning non coercive outlets for things that cannot themselves be regulated out of existence leads to perverse incentives, etc. Not going to repeat the arguments here, but you get my drift: it's pretty one-sided.

The biggest gender difference was in the youngest (20-29) range. I'm guessing that is because this age bracket actually has a better grasp of what kind of lolikon manga are out there, and these Net-savvy women are more alarmed than are older women, who may only have a vague image of the material.

But that age group is the one that is least favorable to "regulation" amongst women too... I don't think that explains it. I think it's also simply that young men are more likely to like the stuff than women.

Another striking gap was between men below 30 and men above 30. 41.7% of men in their 20s believe such material should be regulated, whereas only 17.4% of men in their 30s felt the same. I'm just guessing here, but I think one major factor is fatherhood. When you have a child of your own, the relative importance of freedom of expression and protection of children shifts quite dramatically.

This made zero sense to me when I first read it (both result and interpretation.) Thankfully you provided the result table... that should read "41.7% of men in their 20s believe such material should not be regulated". And now your interpretation makes sense.