Tokyo's 2D Loli Bill Defeated, First In 22 Years

Those optimistic predictions from earlier this month came true a few days ago: Tokyo's proposed "nonexistent youths" bill was indeed defeated in the full Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, on June 16, after having been voted down in the assembly's more limited General Affairs Committee a couple of days earlier. Not only is this a reassuring victory for Japanese artists, publishers, and ultimately us degenerates consumers, but it's also the first time in 22 years that a bill submitted by a Tokyo governor is defeated in the assembly.



So, for now, youngsters under the age of 18 can go about their loli / shota business, and delight themselves with sexual depictions of "nonexistent youths" in manga and anime form, among other fictionalized forms. In Tokyo, anyway. And at least until the assembly's September session, when the Tokyo Metropolitan Government under governor Ishihara plans to re-introduce the bill in a revised, third version (the second version - the one defeated this week - had replaced the term "nonexistent youth" with "depicted youth", by the way, among other trivial changes).

Until then, the Japanese metropolis will continue to enforce its current Youth Healthy Development Ordinance, which prohibits the sale of "harmful publications" to minors. As Dan Kanemitsu explains, Tokyo can already designate the following as harmful:

"Any material that may be detrimental toward the healthy development of youth because of their capacity to be sexually stimulating, encourages cruelty, and/or may compel suicide or criminal behavior."

In another recent post, Dan-kun also points out that the controversy surrounding this nefarious bill isn't as simple as "freedom of expression" vs. "protecting our children". The way he sees it (and he's done quite a bit of research on the topic), the debate is more about "freedom of the bureaucracy to regulate anything they deem to be questionable" vs. "protecting authors and publishers from legal uncertainty over their creations".

"The current definition of what constitutes "harmful material" is already far too broad and the [proposed] revision would makes things far more worse by adding even more vague categories subject to bureaucratic review."

Had the bill passed in its original form, "the only way to deal with romantic relationships, sex and youth in fiction while not running afoul of the law [would be] to avoid it all together". No romance whatsoever for kids? Now there's something to look forward to, this September...

P.S. Also from Dan's posting, the real kicker would have to be this quote:

"[The late creator Jun-Ichi Ohsako] takes aim at why the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) created the phrase "nonexistent youth". It would have been much more simple if they had employed well established phrases, like "imaginary youth". But there lies the problem. If the TMG used such an expression, they would effectively [be] admitting that they are attempting to regulate imagination. In other words, thought policing."