Many are unaware that in Japan it is legal to possess child pornography. In 1999 the government made it illegal to produce and distribute, but it remained legal to possess child pornography. This year the government is now changing the law. Please pray for enforcement and pray for the protection of many innocent child!
An excerpt from Time Magazine, “Japan Finally Bans Child Pornography”
Japan is known as an “international hub for the production and trafficking of child pornography,” according to the 2013 U.S. Department of State’s human-rights report. In 2012, the police reported investigations involving 1,264 child victims featured in pornography — a 98% increase from the previous year.
For activists who insist that there is a direct correlation between child pornography and abuse, the law is a step in the right direction. “For too long, there was a poor understanding of children’s rights,” politician Kiyohiko Toyama told Reuters.
The new law does not include the banning of anime and manga that feature explicit scenes of children, after lawyers and publishers argued that censoring the materials would curb free speech.
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