Why is Japanese Porn Censored?
Picture this: you’ve gotten comfy on the couch, your favorite onahole in one hand and the TV remote in the other. You think to yourself that maybe it’s time to try something new, so you venture into the world of Japanese porn.
After scrolling through a few rather eyebrow raising categories, you settle on some good ol’ fashioned missionary sex. The setup in the video is little vanilla but enough to get the juices flowing; and you’re making good use of your onahole, excitement and arousal peaking in time with the characters; your breathing getting labored as the camera zooms in on the act of penetration when...
Wait, what? Something’s wrong with the video. Why is it pixilated? Why are the characters’ genitals in 8-bit?! WTF? Orgasm denied. Game over. Noooo...!
For those unfamiliar with Japanese porn, you may be surprised to learn that despite it being pornography or AV (Adult Video) as it’s known in Japan, the vast majority of pornographic material produced in Japan is censored in some way, shape or form.
Japanese Law and Porn
To understand the reason behind the censorship of porn in Japan, we must put on our lawyer thinking caps. Bear with me here while I try to keep Lawyer Speak to a minimum.
So Article 21 of the Japanese Constitution states that freedom of creative expression is guaranteed and formal censorship is prohibited. However, like with any law and regulation there are loopholes and the loophole here – attached to Article 175 of the Criminal Code of Japan – is that obscene material is somehow excluded or in the gray area when it comes to the protection of creative expression.
Why is obscene material called out here? Well, according to Article 175 of the Criminal Code of Japan, any individual who distributes, sells, displays, promotes etc. obscene material in the form of film, art, literature etc. shall be liable to punishment and imprisonment.
This law has come under fire for being vague and obscure, especially in regards to how “obscenity” is defined in the eyes of the law. A major case in 1957 regarding the translated works of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover saw the Japanese supreme court declare any creative medium obscene if it “aroused and stimulated sexual desires; insulted societal ideals of modesty; and/or impinged upon proper conducts of sexual morality”.
As a result of this ruling, all porn in Japan, especially for domestic distribution, must undergo self-censorship via either pixilation of genitals and acts of penetration or use of censorship bars.
Historical Influences on Japanese Censorship Laws
Japan went through an isolationist period from the 17th to 19th century called Sakoku. During this time, the country was pretty much closed off from the rest of the world and this included international travel, commerce, and trade. However, when they decided to open again, the influx of Western trade and visitors also brought to Japan, Western ideologies and influences, especially regarding explicit material.
The Meiji Restoration of 1869 brought about a critical political change in Japan and one of the biggest impacts of opening its borders to the West was the shift in how explicit material was seen in the eyes of the law. Wanting to prove themselves a “civilized” nation to their Western counterparts and influenced by Western ideologies of morality and sin, Japan began cracking down on practices previously seen as normal and an integral part of their history and culture.
One of the victims of these new censorship laws was the art of Shunga, a traditional Japanese erotica in woodblock print format that dates to the Heian Period (794AD ~ 1185AD). Considered obscene works, they were banned by the Shogunate in 1722 and have officially been outlawed for some 300 years now.
How The Japanese Porn Industry Gets Around Censorship
An interesting and dare say, favorable consequence of Japan’s censorship laws regarding pornographic material is the many creative genres and categories that came out of it. For example, as the censorship laws focus on human genitalia having to be pixilated, it spawned a whole genre of tentacle porn that is now a notorious aspect of Japanese porn. Unique categories such as bukkake – several participants ejaculating on one receiver – also cropped up as ways to circumvent censorship regulations.
In conclusion, Japanese porn has many unique and defining features but one that stands out as a constant head-scratcher is having the juiciest parts in 8-bit. However, that is not to say that all pornographic material produced in Japan is censored and if Japanese porn is what gets your engines revving then fear not, you can find unpixilated productions out there. And hey, while you’re at it, why not check out our onahole and masturbators selection to see if there’s a new fancy gadget that you can play with while consuming Japanese porn?