profile

Japanese Erotica: 2

In part one we looked at basic Japanese terms for different types of porn. In today's conclusion we'll look at Japanese obscenity laws and the Kishi prosecution.

Obscenity Laws
In Japan, the growth of tentacle porn had a lot to do with the country's obscenity laws, which are considered quirky by North American and European standards. For many years, Japanese law forbade the depiction of pubic hair, but that changed in 1991. Japanese obscenity laws still forbid graphic depictions of human genitalia, but depicting tentacles performing sexual acts doesn't seem to be a problem.

Kishi's arrest and prosecution was big news in Japan's adult entertainment industry because it demonstrated that prosecutors are willing to go after hentai artists if they think their work is too explicit. But in Japan — like the United States, Canada and Great Britain — adult entertainment providers often wonder exactly how explicit they can be without violating the law.

"In all countries," Yakamura said, "there is trouble defining what is obscene or crosses a line. Motonori Kishi was publishing extremely detailed genitalia without masking it at all, as most of Japan's hentai artists do. He was basically thumbing his nose at the rules, which say that if you're showing genitalia or penetration, they need to be covered in some way. Most artists draw a tiny line that hides nothing, but they're following the rules ostensibly."

One thing that Japanese adult entertainment is famous for is its abundance of adolescent-like characters. In Japanese adult films, it isn't uncommon to find an actress who is well into in her 20s but is depicted in a very teeny bopperish way.

"Schoolgirl themes are very popular in Japanese porn," Anello noted. "They're popular in hentai cartoons as well as in Japanese porn films that are not cartoons — and the schoolgirl types are often depicted as sweet, sexy and slutty. In both Japanese porn and regular mainstream non-pornographic animé, women are often depicted in a very cute, girlish, adolescent fashion."

But while Japanese erotica has an abundance of cutesy themes, it also has a more radical side that is exemplified by the infamous Turtle Face scene in the early 1990s movie "Tokyo Decadence." The story of a Tokyo-based call girl/prostitute named Ai, played by Miho Nikaido, "Tokyo Decadence" isn't really a porn film; it is best described as Japanese film noir, although the Turtle Face scene is quite explicit. In that scene, Ai reluctantly participates in an S&M scenario in which a client called Turtle Face is humiliated, bullwhipped, forced to drink urine and anally penetrated with a strap-on dildo by a dominatrix named Mistress Saki.

The Turtle Face scene, Yakamura said, is "very shocking. This kind of thing is really such a niche that it doesn't have any effect on people here in Japan. If you go to some latenight used bookstores, which means adult stores in Japan, there is a curtain with adult products on the other side that only adults can go see. Then behind that section, there's another curtain for extreme fetish stuff — peeing, some scat, that kind of thing. It's certainly not generally known in Japan."

One form of erotica that is generally known in Japan is the genre known as "pink movies" — softcore porn films that started becoming popular in that country in the early 1960s. But Japanese erotica started long before the 1960s or even the 1950s, when some softcore Playboy-like magazines began surfacing in Japan; shunga (erotic woodblock art) was popular during the Edo period of 1600-1867. According to historians, the first example of tentacle porn may have been "The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife" — a shunga that was made around 1820 and depicted an octopus performing cunnilingus on a woman. The tentacle porn style experienced a boom in the 1980s, when many hentai/magna artists saw it as a way to sidestep Japanese obscenity laws.

For centuries, erotica was essentially unregulated in Japan, but that changed with the introduction of obscenity laws in the 20th Century. Under Article 175 of the Japanese criminal code, the sale and distribution of obscene material is illegal — and Japan's Supreme Court has loosely defined obscenity as that which is "unnecessarily sexually stimulating, damages the normal sexual sense of shame of ordinary people, or is against good sexual moral principles."

Kishi Prosecution
When Kishi was prosecuted under Article 175, his defense included the following arguments: (1) the "Misshitsu" magna didn't fit the Supreme Court's definition of obscenity, and (2) Article 175 violates Article 21 of Japan's constitution. Theoretically, Article 21 guarantees Japanese citizens freedom of assembly as well as freedom of speech and expression. In Japan, free speech lawyers would argue that Article 21 protects adult-oriented entrepreneurs in much the same way that the First Amendment protects adult businesses in the United States.

Debates over what does and doesn't constitute obscenity have been going on for decades — and if the Kishi case is any indication, they may continue in Japan for some time to come.

Copyright © 2024 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More Articles

opinion

Unpacking the Payment Card Industry's Latest Data Security Standard

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of requirements and guidelines that apply to all businesses that accept credit card payments, and is designed to ensure the security of those transactions.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

Compliance With State Age Verification Laws

During the past year, website operators have faced a slew of new state age verification laws entailing a variety of inconsistent compliance obligations.

Lawrence Walters ·
opinion

Merchants in Spotlight With Visa's VIRP

By now, most merchants know about the Visa Integrity Risk Program (VIRP) rolled out in spring 2023. The program is designed to ensure that acquirers and their designated agents — payment facilitators, independent sales organizations and wallets — maintain proper controls and oversight to prevent illegal transactions from entering the Visa payment system.

Cathy Beardsley ·
opinion

How to Know When Hosting Upgrades Are Really Needed

I was reminded about an annoyingly common experience that often frustrates website owners: upgrades. Sometimes, an upgrade of physical system resources like CPU, RAM or storage really is required to solve a problem or improve performance… but how do you know you’re not just being upsold?

Brad Mitchell ·
opinion

On the Set: Welcome to Adult Time's 'Futa World'

Dressed revealingly in a yellow waitress uniform, Lauren Phillips greets eager customers Hailey Rose and Chloe Surreal. On a sign announcing the grand opening of “Dick’s Diner,” the apostrophe between letters k and s bears a striking resemblance to an ejaculating penis.

Alejandro Freixes ·
profile

WIA Profile: Natasha Inamorata

Natasha Inamorata was just a kid when she first picked up a disposable camera. She quickly became enamored with it and continued to shoot with whatever equipment she could afford. In her teens, she saved enough money to purchase a digital Canon ELPH, began taking portraits of her friends, shot an entire wedding on a point-and-shoot camera and edited the photos with Picnik.

Women in Adult ·
trends

Collab Nation: Top Creators Share Best Practices for Fruitful Co-Shoots

One of the fastest ways for creators to gain new subscribers and buyers, not to mention monetize their existing fan base, is to collaborate with other creators. The extra star power can multiply potential earnings, broaden brand reach and boost a creator’s reputation in the community.

Alejandro Freixes ·
opinion

Bridging Generational Divides in Payment Preferences

While Baby Boomers and Gen Xers tend to be most comfortable with the traditional payment methods to which they are accustomed, like cash and credit cards, the younger cohorts — Millennials and Gen Z — have veered sharply toward digital-first payment solutions.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

Legal and Business Safety for Creators at Trade Shows

As I write this, I am preparing to attend XBIZ Miami, which reminds me of attending my first trade show 20 years ago. Since then, I have met thousands of people from all over the world who were doing business — or seeking to do business — in the adult industry.

Corey D. Silverstein ·
opinion

Adding AI to Your Company's Tech Toolbox

Artificial intelligence is all the rage. Not only is AI all over the headlines, it is also top of mind for many company leadership teams, who find themselves asking, “How can this new tool help our company?”

Cathy Beardsley ·
Show More