They really should focus on exposing and stopping the roving gangs raping young girls in their own country before they go knocking on some other countries door and castigating them
Japan actually does have a huge problem with the sexualization of children. Teenage school girls dating older men for money is a thing over there. Manga, anime, and video games also sexualize young girls. Some of the models and artwork look like women, but the creators insist on giving them ages like 15. Dragon Ball, Dead or Alive, and others do stuff like this. Kasumi has been 15 forever and it doesn't do anything for the story.
Some manga artists are also drawn to this culture because they are part of it. The author of Toriko did some time from what I recall.
Read GTO, Initial D, and some others. Also watch crime J-Dramas. It is a big part of the culture over there. The reason why there are teen schoolgirl idols is because there is an actual market for them stemming from that culture.
Japan actually does have a huge problem with the sexualization of children.
Children or teens? Lolicon is still a derogatory term among the general population.
Kasumi has been 15 forever and it doesn't do anything for the story
Everyone in DOA is minimum 18 ever since Dimensions ran into release issues.
Read GTO, Initial D, and some others. Also watch crime J-Dramas. It is a big part of the culture over there.
The US used to have tons of movies with nudity in high school settings. One of Johnny Depp's first breakout roles had him giving drugs to his friend to get a prudish girl horny enough to sleep with.
For all this, Japan still has a very low incidence of rape and nowhere near the levels of human trafficking we have in the US.
Even American Pie had "high school" nudity. I don't think anyone went out and raped girls because of these movies. His attitude is how you start getting moral censorship based on spurious claims with no data.
Both, and being derogatory doesn't necessarily mean it's not accepted to some extent.
Kasumi being under 18 is a real issue. The game was directed with this in mind. Subsequent games didn't change anything until problems with localization, i.e. clashing with other cultures and laws.
The US still does that and also treats college like a never-ending frat party, but that's not what this is about.
Japan is mostly homogenous, is a small country, and doesn't deal with "migrants" and blackmail trading as much as the US. Human trafficking and the kind of rape we have here are very different because we are very different countries in many ways.
My point is that I would be more concerned if the culture was borne out in the statistics.
We all know Muslims have a very conservative culture but have actual rape issues involving women and children. I'm not going to act like I know what causes harm without evidence first.
The Muslim "conservative culture" has the rape issues ingrained in it. The evidence there is the religion and the culture itself. You keep bringing up unrelated issues.
Are Muslim women sexualized in Pakistan/Iranian/etc media? I mean, we can bring this discussion to violence in the media as well. You need to provide some numbers if you do. Otherwise we get into the "guns in video games encourage gun violence" argument.
You're highlighting media as an issue, but I think it's far more complex than that, especially when it translates to action. Does Kasumi's age make a difference? Where is the evidence? If so, what action, if any, should be taken?
Someone got downvoted for saying there is a real problem in Japan with sexualization of children. I can guarantee whoever downvoted has no practical knowledge of Japanese society as anyone who lives here is aware of the seedy underbelly. This isn't to say manga or anime are a problem, 99.9% of it is your typical stuff. Even so, having 0.1% of it being child porn is an issue.
Beyond this, the society as a whole has problems with the fetishisation of youth, something even the locals (apart from the psychologists and cultural anthropologists) are typically unaware of the roots of, and something that extends through the music, tv, and other entertainment industries, into the sex industry.
The UK loves focusing on the dark side of Japan. In fact, they seem to have a deeply skewed fixation on the country that only allows them to highlight the weird and kinky (like if all Japan knew about the UK was based on what went on in its gay and red light districts). Maybe its resentment for WWII Japan upsetting their hold on the Far East. That doesn't mean Japan doesn't have issues. Downplaying or ignoring them just highlights your own lack of knowledge and undercuts any other argument you might make.
Edit: Just to note, I haven't watched the entire vid yet. I'm not sure why Channel 4 (Not the BBC) felt the need to produce it after the BBC did their own on the same subject last year. I'll check it out later though and likely find a mixture of truth and hyberbolic sensationalism. As I said above, mixing truth and bullshit undercuts your truth and its something these documentaries also typically do.
Update after watching: As expected it's utterly superficial and makes no effort to understand the wider context of Japanese society and culture. Essentially it looks at a (real) creepy industry through British eyes and thinks "Oh, this would be unacceptable in the UK" (Yes, unlike islamic child grooming) but doesn't take the next step of thinking, "Why is this acceptable in Japan?" Well, it's not acceptable but is tolerated because Japan has pretty strict laws on human rights and people are free to do most things that don't harm others. Whether the girls are harmed is debatable but typically they can make money from it and some use it as a platform for more serious pop or modelling careers. Whether the mothers are exploiting them is also an issue but many just want their kids to have a potentially 'glamorous' career. The big danger is not, however, the creepy guys. For many of them it actually isn't sexual but more an emotional need based upon severely retarded social/relationship skills. A few of them are potentially dangerous stalkers though so there is an element of concern. More serious though are the video companies who will make DVDs of child idols and, once they get older, potentially push them into soft and then hardcore porn. Not technically illegal but for sure a form of grooming that Japan has so far failed to address.
In my opinion anything should be legal in comics. It’s just drawings. Just like a game is just a game (I once nuked almost the whole world in a game of Civilization, doesn’t make me genocidal) I hate pedos with a passion, but if they could keep to their comics I’d be fine with it.
I've got mixed feelings with the teen idol stuff. I've seen some Japanese parents push things too far with their kids into the sexual zone. On the other hand you are correct with things like Babymetal. Doing the teen idol thing pretty much is the starting steps to becoming an idol, actor, voice actor, singer, or a few other jobs within the entertainment sector of Japan. It's very competitive when it comes to working the entertainment industry in Japan so starting young does give you a leg up in all of that.
The UK sure likes to focus on Japan a lot. Maybe they should focus on their own pedophilia problem regarding a certain "Asian" group of people.
They really should focus on exposing and stopping the roving gangs raping young girls in their own country before they go knocking on some other countries door and castigating them
It’s too bad these girls aren’t getting gang raped by dune coons, then the UK press wouldn’t give a fuck about it.
Japan actually does have a huge problem with the sexualization of children. Teenage school girls dating older men for money is a thing over there. Manga, anime, and video games also sexualize young girls. Some of the models and artwork look like women, but the creators insist on giving them ages like 15. Dragon Ball, Dead or Alive, and others do stuff like this. Kasumi has been 15 forever and it doesn't do anything for the story.
Some manga artists are also drawn to this culture because they are part of it. The author of Toriko did some time from what I recall.
Read GTO, Initial D, and some others. Also watch crime J-Dramas. It is a big part of the culture over there. The reason why there are teen schoolgirl idols is because there is an actual market for them stemming from that culture.
Children or teens? Lolicon is still a derogatory term among the general population.
Everyone in DOA is minimum 18 ever since Dimensions ran into release issues.
The US used to have tons of movies with nudity in high school settings. One of Johnny Depp's first breakout roles had him giving drugs to his friend to get a prudish girl horny enough to sleep with.
For all this, Japan still has a very low incidence of rape and nowhere near the levels of human trafficking we have in the US.
Ahhh yes the old 80s and 70s classic R movies. Porky's was a funny one that still gives me laughs to this day.
Even American Pie had "high school" nudity. I don't think anyone went out and raped girls because of these movies. His attitude is how you start getting moral censorship based on spurious claims with no data.
Both, and being derogatory doesn't necessarily mean it's not accepted to some extent.
Kasumi being under 18 is a real issue. The game was directed with this in mind. Subsequent games didn't change anything until problems with localization, i.e. clashing with other cultures and laws.
The US still does that and also treats college like a never-ending frat party, but that's not what this is about.
Japan is mostly homogenous, is a small country, and doesn't deal with "migrants" and blackmail trading as much as the US. Human trafficking and the kind of rape we have here are very different because we are very different countries in many ways.
My point is that I would be more concerned if the culture was borne out in the statistics.
We all know Muslims have a very conservative culture but have actual rape issues involving women and children. I'm not going to act like I know what causes harm without evidence first.
The Muslim "conservative culture" has the rape issues ingrained in it. The evidence there is the religion and the culture itself. You keep bringing up unrelated issues.
Are Muslim women sexualized in Pakistan/Iranian/etc media? I mean, we can bring this discussion to violence in the media as well. You need to provide some numbers if you do. Otherwise we get into the "guns in video games encourage gun violence" argument.
That's your argument, not mine.
You're highlighting media as an issue, but I think it's far more complex than that, especially when it translates to action. Does Kasumi's age make a difference? Where is the evidence? If so, what action, if any, should be taken?
Someone got downvoted for saying there is a real problem in Japan with sexualization of children. I can guarantee whoever downvoted has no practical knowledge of Japanese society as anyone who lives here is aware of the seedy underbelly. This isn't to say manga or anime are a problem, 99.9% of it is your typical stuff. Even so, having 0.1% of it being child porn is an issue.
Beyond this, the society as a whole has problems with the fetishisation of youth, something even the locals (apart from the psychologists and cultural anthropologists) are typically unaware of the roots of, and something that extends through the music, tv, and other entertainment industries, into the sex industry.
The UK loves focusing on the dark side of Japan. In fact, they seem to have a deeply skewed fixation on the country that only allows them to highlight the weird and kinky (like if all Japan knew about the UK was based on what went on in its gay and red light districts). Maybe its resentment for WWII Japan upsetting their hold on the Far East. That doesn't mean Japan doesn't have issues. Downplaying or ignoring them just highlights your own lack of knowledge and undercuts any other argument you might make.
Edit: Just to note, I haven't watched the entire vid yet. I'm not sure why Channel 4 (Not the BBC) felt the need to produce it after the BBC did their own on the same subject last year. I'll check it out later though and likely find a mixture of truth and hyberbolic sensationalism. As I said above, mixing truth and bullshit undercuts your truth and its something these documentaries also typically do.
Update after watching: As expected it's utterly superficial and makes no effort to understand the wider context of Japanese society and culture. Essentially it looks at a (real) creepy industry through British eyes and thinks "Oh, this would be unacceptable in the UK" (Yes, unlike islamic child grooming) but doesn't take the next step of thinking, "Why is this acceptable in Japan?" Well, it's not acceptable but is tolerated because Japan has pretty strict laws on human rights and people are free to do most things that don't harm others. Whether the girls are harmed is debatable but typically they can make money from it and some use it as a platform for more serious pop or modelling careers. Whether the mothers are exploiting them is also an issue but many just want their kids to have a potentially 'glamorous' career. The big danger is not, however, the creepy guys. For many of them it actually isn't sexual but more an emotional need based upon severely retarded social/relationship skills. A few of them are potentially dangerous stalkers though so there is an element of concern. More serious though are the video companies who will make DVDs of child idols and, once they get older, potentially push them into soft and then hardcore porn. Not technically illegal but for sure a form of grooming that Japan has so far failed to address.
In my opinion anything should be legal in comics. It’s just drawings. Just like a game is just a game (I once nuked almost the whole world in a game of Civilization, doesn’t make me genocidal) I hate pedos with a passion, but if they could keep to their comics I’d be fine with it.
I think It was strange too until I discovered Babymetal and then Sakura Gakuin.
I was rooting for their individual success.
I don't follow them anymore but still like some old songs.
I've got mixed feelings with the teen idol stuff. I've seen some Japanese parents push things too far with their kids into the sexual zone. On the other hand you are correct with things like Babymetal. Doing the teen idol thing pretty much is the starting steps to becoming an idol, actor, voice actor, singer, or a few other jobs within the entertainment sector of Japan. It's very competitive when it comes to working the entertainment industry in Japan so starting young does give you a leg up in all of that.