Perplexing Thing About Japan #4: The Pornography/Sex Culture

Okay, to be fair, I don’t know THAT much about the pornography laws. From what I can tell based on a quick look at wikipedia about 5 seconds ago, it seems that in Japan, under Article 175 of the Criminal Code of Japan, people who sell or distribute obscene materials can be punished by fines or imprisonment. This particular code has remained the same since it came into being back in 1907. However, what has changed is what Japanese society deems as “obscene materials”.

Despite this clause in the Criminal Code, there is quite a thriving porn industry in Japan. In order to get around the clause, they simply obscure the genitals (or part of it? I don’t know, I’ve never actually watched Japanese porn).

Besides all this, there also seems to be quite a market for things beyond the norm, I don’t want to get too much into it, since this blog is a place for peace and love and normalcy, etc, but anime porn is quite big in Japan, and I’m pretty sure you can buy magazines upon magazines at any convenience store. I don’t really understand it. Also, pretty much any other fetish you can imagine exists here, from what I’ve been told.

There also seems to be a very disturbing subculture built around the sexualization of youth. Before child pornography itself was banned in Japan in 1999, apparently ⅔ of child porn was Japanese. Now, instead, adults are dressed as children, with school-girls being particularly popular. This is not just subculture, but it quite popular, perpetuated by girl groups like AKB48. It’s really worrisome, and I try not to think about it too much.

Now, like I said, all I know is what I learned from wikipedia and what I see around me in real life, but it’s definitely an interesting thing. If you’re interested in reading more about it, I would recommend that you read the wiki. Or watch the porn, I don’t judge you.

Perplexing Things About Japan 3: Face Masks

This one is going to be quite short. Basically, you know those surgical face covering masks? Japanese people seem to love those things. I’m not entirely sure why, but at least 2 or 3 of my students are always wearing them.

Why, you ask?

Because the students are sick, and wearing a mask prevents the spread of infection. In fact, I should probably be wearing a mask at work as I type this because I’m pretty sure I’ve got a little bit of a cough. 

Except here’s the thing. I’ve seen people wearing masks by themselves inside their own cars, which is doing absolutely nothing to spread germs to the people around them because there are no people around them. Also, they actually will take off the masks to cough or sneeze, which undoes all the germ trapping that the mask is supposed to be doing.

If you are sick enough to wear a mask, you are sick enough to stay home.