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NEWS: 2 Parties Oppose Tokyo's Revised Youth Ordinance Bill

Although I understand that certain Anime and Manga are not meant to be seen by kids and find homosexuality to be a non-kid friendly and unatural scenario, I have to say that I'm on the side that opposes the youth ordinance bill, concerning about what will become of Anime if that bill gets through. No offense. For all you know, the high loss of creative freedom may lead to the disbandement of the entire Anime industry, or at least the part of it that specializes in animation intended entirely for grown-ups.

Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara is a nationalist bigot. You should see what he says about foreigners. No wonder he's in the story staff of the Space Battleship Yamato Resurrection movie.

OH NO! Homosexuals will infect the nation. We all know it's enough to look at one to be turned into one. What ever shall we do? It won't be long before they will force their homosexuality on us. THINK OF THE CHILDREN!!!

Hey, stone-age politician, welcome to 2010. You're a little late here.

I can understand them wanting to 'tame', as he puts it, the contents and sales of anime and manga to certain people but to pass a bill that people will be against anyway just isn't the way to do it.

Contrary to what people think, while Japan is labeled as a liberal nation, that doesn't mean things like homosexuality is considered 'okay' over there. They hate it as much as every other normal person and don't pass it off as 'normal' or 'no shame in'. Liberalism over there is almost the same as conservatism in the western world.

the-antihero wrote:

I can understand them wanting to 'tame', as he puts it, the contents and sales of anime and manga to certain people but to pass a bill that people will be against anyway just isn't the way to do it. Contrary to what people think, while Japan is labeled as a liberal nation, that doesn't mean things like homosexuality is considered 'okay' over there. They hate it as much as every other normal person and don't pass it off as 'normal' or 'no shame in'. Liberalism over there is almost the same as conservatism in the western world.

Um, no, most people there "don't hate it as much as every other normal person would." Ishihara is just an ass. He's made a lot of controversial and bigoted statements in the past. Regarding liberalism and conservatism there, something not covered in most history texts and not widely known, is how traditionally from the very beginning up until the mid 1800's, Japan was very liberal in this respect and many other areas. So much so that: "European explorers and merchants bristled at the “loose morals” and “depravity” of their hosts."

But it's not that they actively strove to be "liberal" either -- these matters were simply treated as 'normal' and 'no shame in'. A lot of these socially conservative attitudes in Japan today, the kind you cite, are a byproduct of westernization. Heck it's not just with homosexuality like I alluded to earlier; for example there was a written european account admiring their pursuit of cleanliness while abhorring the fact that men and women bathed together, as all public onsens were mixed gender back then

I think part of that psyche, that cultural mentality that was there before, still lingers subconsciously and is reemerging today actually. Some modern concepts viewed as libertine and themes like yaoi, yuri, host clubs, hostess clubs, traps and the whole shebang actually have deep historical roots.

Although I understand that certain Anime and Manga are not meant to be seen by kids and find homosexuality to be a non-kid friendly and unatural scenario, I have to say that I'm on the side that opposes the youth ordinance bill, concerning about what will become of Anime if that bill gets through. No offense. For all you know, the high loss of creative freedom may lead to the disbandement of the entire Anime industry, or at least the part of it that specializes in animation intended entirely for grown-ups. Plus, it won't make any sense for anyone to stay in the field if he/she longer has the freedom to make what he/she wants to make, concerning the matter of integrity.