Child pornography
I like to go out on the weekends, during the day and walk around town looking. I just keep my head twisting from side to side, looking at everything around me, including the girls. I browse around the shops, make mental notes of new restaurants, play around the latest electronics. I normally don't decide where to go, I let my legs decide where they want to go.
Yesterday, like no other, I was walking around and ended up on the 3rd floor of a shopping arcade. The arcade is an open market shopping center with shops lined up on both sides. Its 3 floors up and 2 floors in the basement. The lower floors are pretty empty. Judging from appearence it looks like it used to be the food "street", with small mom&pop stores and restaurants. The ground and 2 floor has the usual clothing stores, lingerie stores... very vibrant. On the 3rd floor seemed a little less people. It had more of a "geek" feel to it, more anime stores. I had walked this floor before browsing but didn't bother entering any of the anime shops. But yesterday I did. Out of the 3 I walked in 2 were normal. It had the usual anime mangas (comics), games and DVDs. The 3rd I went to, I found a little distrubing.
Like the other 2 it carried anime magazines. But after taking a closer look, all the anime it carried were x-rated. Everyone in the store were young men, browsing at the different comics. All were wrapped in plastic but there was one that had the sign "SAMPLE" on it. I picked one up and turned it over and saw there was a miniture strip of 2 pages attached so the buyer can see what the anime inside is like. Anime like any cartoons have different themes, student-teacher, sisters, mom. But I also found comics that were about pre-teens. I could tell by the drawing on the cover, small, no breasts, pudgy. In a store selling all x-rated anime, they were selling x-rated preteen comics.
There is a law against selling child pornography here but I guess it doesnt include comics as its not "REAL" as in there isn't a child harmed in the process, only the author's sick imagination.
Its almost the geeks, ignored by society finds solace in anime and their fantasy world. But more and more are having trouble finding the line between fantasy and reality. What they see in comics, they feel they can achieve too in the real world. There have been an increase in child-related crimes. (see teacher busted over secret camera in gym as example)
Maybe its time Japan changes in laws to include anime as child pornography.
