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I've been wisely sort of ignoring the whole Tokyo Youth Ordinance Bill thing for several reasons; it's a city-of-Tokyo thing that I can't influence in any fashion, it's not really going to affect anything I watch or read, and it's brought out a lot of the over-reacting, viewing-with-alarm, doom-saying, fear-mongering, and general stupid fan behavior that wastes everybody's time and accomplishes nothing.
But - and this has happened twice that I've seen so far - when somebody tries to equate this bill with the American Comics Code, and then makes the case that the Comics Code destroyed American comics for decades until magically Frank Miller invented "The Dark Knight" and made comics OK for adults again (or whatever artistic benchmark you care to use for the adultification of American comic books), well I have to speak up.
The Comics Code of the 1950s didn't have nearly as much to do with the implosion
of the American comics industry as did an economic downturn that eliminated
several distributors in 1957-1958. Before AND after the Comics Code, the
American comic book industry featured crime, war, horror, suspense, romance,
funny animal, children's stories, humor, super-hero, western, science-fiction,
and genres impossible to pigeonhole ("Spurs Jackson, Space Vigilante").
The main effect of the Comics Code was to allow the Goldwaters ("Archie") to
destroy EC Comics, which in turn transformed EC's Mad Magazine into one of the
most popular and influential humor magazines in American history.
Sexually explicit comics were available in the back of any men's magazine (in
the form of vest-pocket "Tijuana Bibles" featuring popular cartoon characters
engaging in explicit acts - no, Japan didn't invent this) and Matt Baker, among
others, was producing mature film-noir graphic novels that ignored the Comics
Code, in the 1950s. Dell Comics, publisher of Disney and other licensed
character comics, ignored the Code completely. The work of Carl Barks, arguably
one of the greatest cartoonists in the world, was never subject to the Comics
Code.
Barely a decade after the Code, underground cartoonists were producing
influential work that cheerfully flaunted the Comics Code and were sold in a
distribution network that ignored newsstands completely.
The popular conception is that the Comics Code destroyed creativity, artistic
endeavour, and the business side of the American comics industry. That
conception simply isn't true.
Personally I don't believe Tokyo's Harmful Books Legislation will have much of
an affect on the anime industry, which has vastly larger problems than
regulations prohibiting the sale of pornography to minors. Americans seem to
forget sometimes that nations not America may not share America's national ethos
of "freedom of the press". At any rate, the citizens of Tokyo are the ones who
should be deciding what is and is not sold to minors in their city.
This isn't the first time comics in Japan have been under fire from moral
watchdogs, either; since manga rose to prominence in the 1950s, Japanese
educators, PTAs, and watchdog groups have condemned, banned, legislated against,
and burned offensive manga. And yet today the R18 Doujinshi floors of shops in
Ikebukuro, Akihabara and elsewhere are jam packed with smut that violates the
laws of God, man, copyright, and physics. I predict this current effort will
have about as much effect as previous efforts.
That's what I said on the Animecons ML and that's pretty much still what I think.
Not that this had any business on a mailing list for anime cons, but the tragedy of the Comics Code and the Wertham witch hunt was, in my opinion, that Bill Gaines was forced to stand up holding the bloody severed head cover and defend it as a children's comic. What he should have said, what the industry should have done at that time, was to say, "these comics AREN'T FOR CHILDREN." The Comics Code came into being under the assumption that comic books were meant for children. It wasn't the case then and it isn't the case now, but that's the assumption that gave the Comics Code its teeth. Which is why comparisons to Bill 156 are useless; Japan has a thriving industry in comics for adults.
As far as I can determine, this Bill 156 to revise the Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance Regarding the Healthy Development of Youths is a bill that, well, here's what it says.
1) Tokyo city govt. will be able to suggest how minors have access to information through their cell phone based on the user’s age.
2) Tokyo’s definition of how it deems publicly available material as harmful to minors will be changed. The new definition has been expanded to include the "unjustified glorification or exaggeration" of fictional depiction of sexual acts currently unlawful. This doesn't BAN the material or make the material illegal, it restricts it to persons over 18.
3) Publishers that have over 6 works deemed to be harmful material within a one year period by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government shall be subject to referral to their respective self-regulatory bodies for addressing the repeated offenses.
4) The bill allows the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to encourages the establishment of an environment where child pornography could be eliminated and prevent its creation.
5) Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s role in promoting and formulating Internet media literacy policies are confirmed.
6) To prevent harm that could arise from minor’s access to the Internet, filtering must be made more easily available and they must become more effective.
7) If a parental guardian wishes to deactivate a minor’s cell phone’s Internet filtering, they must submit a written request to their cell phone service provider where they recognize that it will be the parental guardian’s responsibility to make sure the minor’s Internet access is properly supervised AND that the reason for deactivation is recognized as being justifiable by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
8) Parental guardians must properly supervise and administer Internet usage by minors in their care to prevent dangerous usage patterns that might involve criminal activities, etc. and strive toward limiting minor’s exposure to information that may result in criminal activities or become victims to the minimum possible.
(this is all lifted pretty much verbatim from Dan Kanemitsu's blog.)
And yeah, that's it. Cell phone restrictions for minors, internet filtering for minors and the horrifying nightmare censorship where the sale of adult material is restricted to adults. Oh, and the definition of what constitutes kiddy pRon is vague and subjective - which has been the status quo pretty much everywhere, for a long time. OH NOES
I can't see this having any affect whatsoever on anything, other than the boners of minors who have to work a little harder to get their crazy Japanese pRon. Perhaps retailers will have to check IDs. OH THE HORROR. I predict the death of the anime industry forever, starting... now. No wait, now. Hold on... now! Wait for it...
But - and this has happened twice that I've seen so far - when somebody tries to equate this bill with the American Comics Code, and then makes the case that the Comics Code destroyed American comics for decades until magically Frank Miller invented "The Dark Knight" and made comics OK for adults again (or whatever artistic benchmark you care to use for the adultification of American comic books), well I have to speak up.
The Comics Code of the 1950s didn't have nearly as much to do with the implosion
of the American comics industry as did an economic downturn that eliminated
several distributors in 1957-1958. Before AND after the Comics Code, the
American comic book industry featured crime, war, horror, suspense, romance,
funny animal, children's stories, humor, super-hero, western, science-fiction,
and genres impossible to pigeonhole ("Spurs Jackson, Space Vigilante").
The main effect of the Comics Code was to allow the Goldwaters ("Archie") to
destroy EC Comics, which in turn transformed EC's Mad Magazine into one of the
most popular and influential humor magazines in American history.
Sexually explicit comics were available in the back of any men's magazine (in
the form of vest-pocket "Tijuana Bibles" featuring popular cartoon characters
engaging in explicit acts - no, Japan didn't invent this) and Matt Baker, among
others, was producing mature film-noir graphic novels that ignored the Comics
Code, in the 1950s. Dell Comics, publisher of Disney and other licensed
character comics, ignored the Code completely. The work of Carl Barks, arguably
one of the greatest cartoonists in the world, was never subject to the Comics
Code.
Barely a decade after the Code, underground cartoonists were producing
influential work that cheerfully flaunted the Comics Code and were sold in a
distribution network that ignored newsstands completely.
The popular conception is that the Comics Code destroyed creativity, artistic
endeavour, and the business side of the American comics industry. That
conception simply isn't true.
Personally I don't believe Tokyo's Harmful Books Legislation will have much of
an affect on the anime industry, which has vastly larger problems than
regulations prohibiting the sale of pornography to minors. Americans seem to
forget sometimes that nations not America may not share America's national ethos
of "freedom of the press". At any rate, the citizens of Tokyo are the ones who
should be deciding what is and is not sold to minors in their city.
This isn't the first time comics in Japan have been under fire from moral
watchdogs, either; since manga rose to prominence in the 1950s, Japanese
educators, PTAs, and watchdog groups have condemned, banned, legislated against,
and burned offensive manga. And yet today the R18 Doujinshi floors of shops in
Ikebukuro, Akihabara and elsewhere are jam packed with smut that violates the
laws of God, man, copyright, and physics. I predict this current effort will
have about as much effect as previous efforts.
That's what I said on the Animecons ML and that's pretty much still what I think.
Not that this had any business on a mailing list for anime cons, but the tragedy of the Comics Code and the Wertham witch hunt was, in my opinion, that Bill Gaines was forced to stand up holding the bloody severed head cover and defend it as a children's comic. What he should have said, what the industry should have done at that time, was to say, "these comics AREN'T FOR CHILDREN." The Comics Code came into being under the assumption that comic books were meant for children. It wasn't the case then and it isn't the case now, but that's the assumption that gave the Comics Code its teeth. Which is why comparisons to Bill 156 are useless; Japan has a thriving industry in comics for adults.
As far as I can determine, this Bill 156 to revise the Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance Regarding the Healthy Development of Youths is a bill that, well, here's what it says.
1) Tokyo city govt. will be able to suggest how minors have access to information through their cell phone based on the user’s age.
2) Tokyo’s definition of how it deems publicly available material as harmful to minors will be changed. The new definition has been expanded to include the "unjustified glorification or exaggeration" of fictional depiction of sexual acts currently unlawful. This doesn't BAN the material or make the material illegal, it restricts it to persons over 18.
3) Publishers that have over 6 works deemed to be harmful material within a one year period by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government shall be subject to referral to their respective self-regulatory bodies for addressing the repeated offenses.
4) The bill allows the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to encourages the establishment of an environment where child pornography could be eliminated and prevent its creation.
5) Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s role in promoting and formulating Internet media literacy policies are confirmed.
6) To prevent harm that could arise from minor’s access to the Internet, filtering must be made more easily available and they must become more effective.
7) If a parental guardian wishes to deactivate a minor’s cell phone’s Internet filtering, they must submit a written request to their cell phone service provider where they recognize that it will be the parental guardian’s responsibility to make sure the minor’s Internet access is properly supervised AND that the reason for deactivation is recognized as being justifiable by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
8) Parental guardians must properly supervise and administer Internet usage by minors in their care to prevent dangerous usage patterns that might involve criminal activities, etc. and strive toward limiting minor’s exposure to information that may result in criminal activities or become victims to the minimum possible.
(this is all lifted pretty much verbatim from Dan Kanemitsu's blog.)
And yeah, that's it. Cell phone restrictions for minors, internet filtering for minors and the horrifying nightmare censorship where the sale of adult material is restricted to adults. Oh, and the definition of what constitutes kiddy pRon is vague and subjective - which has been the status quo pretty much everywhere, for a long time. OH NOES
I can't see this having any affect whatsoever on anything, other than the boners of minors who have to work a little harder to get their crazy Japanese pRon. Perhaps retailers will have to check IDs. OH THE HORROR. I predict the death of the anime industry forever, starting... now. No wait, now. Hold on... now! Wait for it...
