The well-known Japanese businessman Takafumi ‘Horiemon’ Horiefounder of the Internet portal livedoorhas raised his voice against the use of mosaic censorship in adult productions such as live-action (known as AV in Japan) and animations (better known as hentai). Horie argues that Japan is ‘losing money on taxes’ due to censorship, as users turn to foreign websites to avoid it. On his YouTube channel, Horiemon questioned: “So why do we use mosaic censorship?“.
The businessman highlighted that anyone in Japan can easily visit an uncensored pornography website abroad and questioned why Japan prohibits this practice, calling it meaningless. “It is better without censorship for the sake of Japan’s economy“he continued, explaining that if Japanese customers visit foreign pornography websites, they would be contributing to foreign distribution companies that pay taxes in their countries instead of Japan. Horiemon exclaimed: “Taxes (from distribution companies) that should have been paid to Japan (by Japanese users watching) are being lost!“.
To understand the context of adult video censorship in Japan, it is essential to refer to Article 175 of the Japanese Penal Code, which prohibits the sale and distribution of obscene materials. Most JAV production companies belong to ‘ethical associations’ that determine what is acceptable to show, similar to the American Motion Picture Production Code of the ’30s to ’60s. Until the 1990s, showing pubic hair was considered obscene, which explains why old porn videos in Japan had mosaics covering the entire lower torso region of the participants.
Some people argue that the use of mosaics fits with the fundamental beliefs of Japan (and to some extent, much of Asia), where social harmony is paramount. Japanese society is willing to overlook immorality as long as there is a ‘moral screen’ in place. In other words, the Japanese (or at least the government) seem to ignore the fact that a 19-year-old girl has performed some pretty daring acts on camera for money, because the mosaic covers up the real action.
And of course, the reactions did not go unnoticed:
- «That’s right, this is what had to be said from high places, mosaic censorship no longer makes sense today!».
- «People in Japan don’t follow creators on FANTIA or FANBOX, but rather prefer Patreon because that site is not hosted in Japan and the content does not need to be censored. The only thing they achieve with this law is lose money by maintaining archaic rules that are a hundred years behind the times.».
- «In reality, censorship never made sense in the first place. It’s like they just want to ignore the fact that that content exists».
- «Mosaic censorship has to be done and reviewed by a specific company that also charges for doing it. That means that company makes money from every porn video made in Japan, which adds up fast. It’s pretty standard corruption, they surely take a toll on the Japanese government so that the law is never withdrawn, did they think Japan was perfect?».
- «Let this guy be the next Emperor of Japan, he knows what’s good!».
- «I completely agree that it doesn’t make any sense. Why buy censored porn in Japan when you can get it uncensored abroad? And trying to force adults in Japan to watch only censored porn is completely stupid. I’m glad they’re finally talking about losing money through taxes so people in government finally care. Was this what had to be mentioned?».
- «This is completely based, no type of censorship should be tolerated. Even he threw a bone to the clowns sitting in power so they have an excuse: THEY ARE LOSING MONEY!».
- «You’re not wrong, there are many sites on the Internet that get uncensored versions of both hentai and porn movies, and they make a huge profit from it!».
- «Did you think uncensored Japanese porn sites were for you to pay for? How conceited! They are for the Japanese themselves to pay!».
- «Yeah! Let there be uncensored hentai! As it should always have been!».
- «Not only do they visit sites abroad, porn actresses from Japan also prefer to go abroad to film western movies and get more money. In the end, the Japanese seem to be the biggest idiots in the world when it comes to business».
Fountain: Yahoo! News Japan
