In my last entry, I said the following marriages are not legal under Japanese law, therefore depictions of sexual relationships between such close relatives would be subject to restriction in Tokyo:
1) Marrying to one’s self.
2) Marrying an immediate blood relative. (Children and parent, grandchild and grandmother, etc.)
3) Marriage between a relative by affinity within the third degree. (Siblings, uncle and nephew, etc.)
4) Marriage between two relatives formed by marriage in a parental relationship. (A husband and his wife’s mother or his mother-in-law.) This holds true even after divorce or if the spouse has died.
5) Marriage between an adopted child or adopted child’s spouse with his or her adopting parents, their immediate siblings, their blood relatives, etc. (An adopted son’s divorced wife and the father of one of the adopting parents, etc.) This holds true even after divorce or if the adoption is nullified.
I forgot to mention that marriage in Japanese is defined as a consensual relationship between people of two sexes, and therefore same sex marriages are not legally binding in Japan.
So the list should say:
1) Marrying to one’s self OR ANYONE OF THE SAME SEX.
2) Marrying an immediate blood relative. (Children and parent, grandchild and grandmother, etc.)
3) Marriage between a relative by affinity within the third degree. (Siblings, uncle and nephew, etc.)
4) Marriage between two relatives formed by marriage in a parental relationship. (A husband and his wife’s mother or his mother-in-law.) This holds true even after divorce or if the spouse has died.
5) Marriage between an adopted child or adopted child’s spouse with his or her adopting parents, their immediate siblings, their blood relatives, etc. (An adopted son’s divorced wife and the father of one of the adopting parents, etc.) This holds true even after divorce or if the adoption is nullified.
Now the bill states “any sexual acts or sexual like acts between close relative who could not marry if they were real” so it doesn’t state homosexuality outright, but the implication is that even non-sexually stimulating depictions homosexual acts between close relatives must not be a shown to all minors if they are depicted in an “unjustifiably glorified or excessively exaggerated” manner.
People keep seem to foget this so I will remind people once more, Tokyo can already keep sexually stimulating material (manga or live-action) out of the hands of children unilaterially, so this bill goes beyond material that is sexually stimulating, i.e. erotic entertainment.
What types of fiction constitutes non-sexually stimulating material that depicts illegal sexual acts or sexual relations between close relatives?
I’ll give you two big hints: Romance and social commentary.
Addendum: This entry was updated on Dec. 4th, 2010.
Previously I had translated the word 誇張 as emphasize, but I have decided to revise this translation to the word exaggerate. When I first translated the word, I felt that exaggerate was too broad, but as I’ve read more and more of the writing regarding Bill 156,
Dan Kanemitsu's Paper Trail 
“Now the bill states “any sexual acts or sexual like acts between close relative who could not marry if they were real” so it doesn’t state homosexuality outright, but the implication is that even non-sexually stimulating depictions homosexual acts between close relatives must not be a shown to all minors if they are depicted in an “unjustifiably glorified or excessively exaggerated” manner.”
Wait wait wait. The bill also bans non-sexually stimulating depictions of heterosexual acts between close relatives by provisions 2, 3, 4, 5. Provision 1 is entirely redundant given the close relatives issue. You are inserting a focus on homosexuality that isn’t there.
To me, his emphasis seems to illustrate the change in his list from one to the other. The focus of this post is “seems I forgot homosexuality, oops!”
Correct me if I’m missing your core point later in this article, but are you saying that the designation as pornography and designation as “material for adults/the mature” are the same things? Yes, Japan can “black curtain” pornographic media, but that is very different to, for example, 18+ media, designated so due to its unsuitability for kids. Avoiding any speculation as to the motivation of the legislation, which largely relies on Ad Hominem connections to Ishihara’s bigotry in other cases, I really don’t see why Japan, a country that is very liberal in its media content, would suddenly adopt practices more akin to its rival, China. To properly measure the probable affect of this legislation, the entire legal and constitutional canvass must be examined. I’m not seeing that in these articles.
all we know is Kadakawa-sama is pissed off very much, beware the Godly power that is Tokyo’s “zettapower” Kadokawa shoten that trolled even the fundamentalist and insane legions of Otaku and devout followers of Haruhiism with Endless Eight and suffered mediocre DVD sales. Kadokawa is a omnipotent force to be reckoned with… even Haruhi-sama can’t beat her father of all of Japan’s media.
heck if this bill weakens Kadokawa to the brink of collapse Japan would be breaking apart at that stage. It’s deities like these that kept japan from collapsing in the sorry state of Greece. any way the economy would shatter greatly.
Liberal? Japan’s media?
You’re talking about the same media that still censors genitalia in hardcore pornography by law.