Tokyo to Resubmit Bill on Sexual Depictions of Youths

[Eudemon]

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has decided to re-introduce a revised bill to restrict manga and anime with explicit sexual depictions of children during the parliamentary session that begins at the end of this month. The bill would amend the Youth Healthy Development Ordinance to add these materials to the existing "harmful publications" classification, and thus restrict their sales and renting.

The government submitted an earlier version of the bill in March, but the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly rejected that version in June. That earlier version used the term "nonexistent youth" to define which materials, such as those with rape and other "anti-social acts" of sexual nature, should be restricted; 1,421 manga creators and other opponents said the language was vague and open to interpretation.

The revised bill removes the term "nonexistent youth," and the Yomiuri Shimbun paper reports that the revisions avoid specific references to "characters younger than 18" to describe which materials would be restricted. The newspaper adds that the bill's chances of passage have increased since the Democratic Party of Japan, which opposed the earlier bill, might now accept the revised text.

Source:http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-11-15/tokyo-to-resubmit-bill-on-sexual-depictions-of-youths