posted by admin on Sep 10
On June 7th 2008, the Kyoto Prefecture’s local government investigated and labeled 13 loli manga as “harmful galleries for viewers.”The reason that manga containing excessive sexual stuffs can be accessed by youngsters at common bookstores and convenience stores has been regarded as a social problem in Japan. As a result, the Kyoto local government has made the decision to label manga containing inappropriate content involving elementary school girls in a compromising position and because of this,a plan was made to make a meeting with the Juveniles Growth Planning Committee on the 15th of October to further discuss this matter.
According to a local government official, “Sexual content involving elementally and junior college school girls are becoming increasingly common in the manga magazines. The Sexual contents in live-action videos are restricted by the law, but there are no restrictions for manga. Such manga can be hard to spot by their covers, and they are sold at common bookstores.”
Until date, only 4 manga around Japan were labeled as “harmful galleries.” This is the first time such comprehensive investigation has been carried out.
An official of the Kyoto police juvenile section expressed that “Intercourse involving children under 13 is in violation of the criminal law. Lolicon manga may stimulate similar crimes in the real world, so we can’t leave this fact unattended. Parents will hence forth be warned through these labels. This is not a restriction of the “freedom of press” since the act of labeling is not banning the publication of the books itself.”