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No Manga Formally Restricted by Tokyo's 1-Year-Old Youth Ordinance Amendment
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
It has been one year since the new sales restrictions outlined in Tokyo's revised Youth Healthy Development Ordinance went into effect on July 1, 2011. However, no manga title has been formally restricted under the new rules so far.
The amendment expanded the number of manga and anime that could fall under "harmful publications," the legal category of works that must not be sold or rented to people under the age of 18. Erotic material was already restricted before the amendment, but the amended law now also restricts the sales and renting of materials that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government considers "to be excessively disrupting of social order."
The assembly evaluated To Love-Ru -Trouble- Darkness on April 9 but concluded the manga's depictions of nudity do not violate the ordinance's new standards. The anime series Yosuga no Sora was discussed in May for its depictions of incest but was not found to be in violation either.
However, the ordinance only applies to publications that are in print or available in release; at least one manga creator reported that some of his books will not be printed after the law went into effect. Aki Sora author Masahiro Itosugi revealed in April of 2011 that volumes 1 and 3 of the series would no longer be printed as of July 2011. Itosugi explained that the biggest problem is the series' depictions of incest, not erotically graphic content.
Ryokichi Yama, the head of the editing ethics committee at the Japan Magazine Publishers Association, asserted that the government has not formally restricted any works because it is cautious. On the other hand, the government's section for youth affairs asserted that it has not restricted any works since publishers are exercising self-restraint.
In a press conference, Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara described the revised law as having results: "Writers and publishers have started using common sense when it comes to publishing books."
Thanks to Dan Kanemitsu for the legal information.
Source: Daily Yomiuri
