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Comment by emacdona | Hacker News Reader

"'This stuff is huge in Japan, in all of Asia,' Lunning says"

Does this mean that anyone from Japan or "all of Asia" who reads these comics is subject to arrest when they visit the United States with one of these comics in their backpack?

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You're subject to arrest if you bring one of them into Japan. Importing pornography/obscenity is illegal.

They have signs at the airports mentioning so. Your chance of getting caught is probably pretty low and most of the time when they catch someone with a Playboy they just confiscate it and destroy it, but the Ministry of Justice does not consider evenhanded ignoring of the law to be a priority.

I'm not sure if this quite answers the question. Although Japan certainly doesn't allow bringing in content which violates their definition of pornography, it is not clear to me that these manga would fall under that definition.

This article skims the surface of this fairly complex topic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_in_Japan#Censorship...

Chapter 22, Articles 175 of the Japanese penal code:

　第二十二章　わいせつ、姦淫及び重婚の罪

（わいせつ物頒布等）第百七十五条　わいせつな文書、図画その他の物を頒布し、販売し、又は公然と陳列した者は、二年以下の懲役又は二百五十万円以下の罰金若しくは科料に処する。販売の目的でこれらの物を所持した者も、同様とする。

My comment:

法律上で禁じられているか禁じられていないかを判断するにはWikiを参照するより直接法律を見た方がいいんじゃあないか？例えば、「日本の法律で図に過ぎないものはわいせつにならないだろう。それは論理的だし、日本はポルノだらけとよく知られているし。」と思うなら、読んだらすぐ「いや、文字通り、図に過ぎないものでもわいせつとなる」と分かるだろう。

日本のわいせつの罪はアメリカに移行としたら憲法違反と必ず見られるほど広いふうに定義されている。例の漫画は明らかにわいせつである。わいせつとして罰されるかどうかは先言ったように別の話だが。

これは「おれは日本語読めるからカコイイゼ」とのオタクの台詞として受ける人もいるだろうが、まあ、しょうがないか。

Kindly paraphrase? My Japanese doesn't extend beyond "Two beers, please" and "where is the bathroom?"

The comment says, paraphrased, that rather than skimming Wiki to validate one's guess that about what the law says on the basis of one's opinion that it should logically say X or that Japan is drenched in porno so it probably says X, it is probably better to actually read the law. The text of the law is the ultimate authoritative source on whether the law covers, e.g., drawings or pictures. The law says, unambiguously, yes, it does.

The last line says, heavily paraphrased, "Some folks are probably going to think I'm saying 'lolz i can readz japanese im so cool' -- ah well".

Google translate says: "Obscene document, drawing, or other objects to distribute, sell, publicly display, or a person who is punishable by a fine or a fine of 102 million yen or imprisonment of up to 15 years. The person who has possession of these items sell for the same."

Doesn't the US have similar statutes? (Which are almost never enforced...?)

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