Japan bans possession of child pornography
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Tokyo (June 18, Wed): Japan has finally made the possession of child pornography a punishable offense.
The country's upper house of parliament passed a Bill today, which will see people found with explicit images of children jailed for up to year or fined up to US$10,000.
The Bill was a long time coming for activists who argued that Japan's relatively lax laws put children at risk by banning the production and distribution of child pornography, but not people found with it in their possession.
However, the Bill notably excludes the possession of explicit anime or manga, a point of contention for campaigners who say that cartoons depicting child sexual abuse should also be banned.
CNN
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Let's be clear about something: I don't think any sane person can justifiably argue for the involvement of
real-life children in sex videos or pictures.
But that's not quite the same as depicting such acts in cartoons.
Still, though, there is a case to answer that one form of expression may lead to another.