Lolicon: The Reality of 'Virtual Child Pornography' in Japan

!"#$%"&: The Reality of Virtual Child Pornography` in 1apan Patrick W. Galbraith, The University oI Tokyo Abstract: As its popular culture rapidly disseminates around the world, there is increasing pressure on Japan to meet global standards Ior regulating child pornography, and certain types oI purely Iictional images have been implicated. One oI the keywords is lolicon (or rorikon), used to describe manga, anime and games that Ieature 'underage¨ characters in sexual and sometimes violent situations. This paper examines the large and long-standing community oI Ians (among those reIerred to as otaku) in Japan who produce and consume lolicon works to question the assumptions oI media eIIects. In recent debates in Japan, proponents oI new legislation, which was eventually adopted, argued that sexual and violent representations in manga and anime should be specially regulated because such content is 'the same Ior whoever reads or watches and there is only one way to understand it.¨ However, a review oI lolicon culture suggests that messages and receptions are, and have always been, much more varied and complex. Even the relation between Iiction and reality is not at all straightIorward. Responding to the new legislation, Fujimoto Yukari comments that manga and anime are 'not always about the representation oI objects oI desire that exist in reality, nor about compelling parties to realize their desires in reality.¨ From a legal standpoint, no identiIiable minor is involved in the production oI lolicon and no physical harm is done. There is no evidence to support the claim that the existence oI lolicon, or engagement with such content, encourages 'cognitive distortions¨ or criminal acts. As Mark McLelland argues, criminalizing such material represents a Iorm oI 'thought censorship¨ and a trend towards the 'juridiIication oI imagination.¨ This potentially might shut down alternative spaces oI imagination and communities negotiating or opposing dominant cultural meanings. Keywords: child pornography / rorikon / otaku / shöjo / Introduction As its popular culture rapidly disseminates around the world, there is increasing pressure on Japan to meet global standards Ior regulating child pornography, and certain types oI purely Iictional images have been implicated. 1 One oI the keywords is lolicon (or rorikon), used to Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 83 describe manga, anime and games that Ieature 'underage¨ 2 characters in sexual and sometimes violent situations. This paper examines the large and long-standing community oI Ians (among those reIerred to as otaku) in Japan who produce and consume lolicon works to question the assumptions oI media eIIects. In recent debates in Japan, proponents oI new legislation, which was eventually adopted, 3 argued that sexual and violent representations in manga and anime should be specially regulated because such content is 'the same Ior whoever reads or watches and there is only one way to understand it.¨ 4 However, a review oI lolicon culture suggests that messages and receptions are, and have always been, much more varied and complex. Even the relation between Iiction and reality is not at all straightIorward. Responding to the new legislation, Fujimoto Yukari comments that manga and anime are 'not always about the representation oI objects oI desire that exist in reality, nor about compelling parties to realize their desires in reality.¨ 5 From a legal standpoint, no identiIiable minor is involved in the production oI lolicon and no physical harm is done. As Mark McLelland argues, criminalizing such material represents a Iorm oI 'thought censorship¨ (McLelland 2005) and a trend towards the 'juridiIication oI imagination¨ (McLelland, Iorthcoming). This potentially might shut down alternative spaces oI imagination and communities negotiating or opposing dominant cultural meanings. The Lolita effect` Critics such as Naitö Chizuko have called Japan a 'loliconized society¨ (rorikonka suru shakai), where lolicon has come to represent 'societal desire in a broader sense¨ (Naitö 2010: 328). It is important to keep in mind, however, that Japan is not necessarily unique in the production and consumption oI sexualized images oI young girls. John Hartley notes that the democratization oI the public sphere through popular media was 'conducted through the media of Ieminization and sexualization¨ (Hartley 1998: 48). The mass media tends to communicate using images oI young girls (drawing an audience and holding its attention), and to position the comIort-seeking consumer as an inIantilized and Ieminized subject. Hartley reIers to this phenomenon as 'juvenation,¨ or 'the creative practice oI communicating.via the medium oI youthIulness¨ (Hartley 1998: 51). The increased public Iascination with youth is accompanied by a discursive drive to patrol age boundaries, thereby producing the reiIied category oI the child. Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 84 Transgression is documented and prominently reported to a captivated audience; this is perpetuated by the promise oI high ratings and proIits. M. Gigi Durham agrees that the sexualization oI girls is a general phenomenon in capitalist societies, and identiIies the emergence oI what she calls the 'Lolita eIIect,¨ or a 'distorted and delusional set oI myths about girls` sexuality¨ (Durham 2009: 12). 6 Durham traces this primarily to the drive to cultivate consumers as early as possible, which erodes boundaries between children and adults: 'Marketers call this age compression,` or KGOY` Kids Getting Older Younger` and this marketing construct is blurring the line between adults and children, especially with regard to sexuality. . Increasingly, very young girls are becoming involved in the sphere oI Iashion, images, and activities that encourage them to Ilirt with a decidedly grown-up eroticism and sexuality. . Increasingly, adult sexual motiIs are overlapping with childhood speciIically girlhood, shaping an environment in which young girls are increasingly seen as valid participants in the public culture oI sex¨ (Durham 2009: 126, 21, 115). This has to do with maximizing proIits, but also with making the sexuality oI young girls into a spectacle, ostensibly to appeal to boys and men, but also to girls and women. Even as sex becomes a spectacle, there are limited chances to discuss its realities (Durham 2009: 51). By Durham`s estimation, the results are clear. In the United States, an estimated 25 percent oI girls (and 20 percent oI boys) have been molested (Durham 2009: 12). The rate oI teen pregnancy and abortion is the highest in the industrialized world eight times that oI Japan (Durham 2009: 28). While agreeing with many oI Durham`s assertions, this paper does not agree that all images oI sexualized children, including those that are purely Iictional, are equally part oI the problem, that all oI these images, regardless oI context, exploit girls and empower men, and that ideology is necessarily aligned with images. 7 It Iollows Shigematsu Setsu in rejecting theories oI mass culture as a 'direct reIlection oI the minds and desires oI the masses¨ or a direct inIluence on consumers (Shigematsu 1999: 128). In support oI this, Milton Diamond and Uchiyama Ayako show a trend towards more violent pornography and Iewer sex crimes in Japan (Diamond and Uchiyama 1999). This is not to suggest that consuming images oI sexual violence somehow compensates Ior or relieves real desires. Glenn G. Sparks has surveyed existing studies on media Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 85 eIIects, and concludes that the evidence does not support the 'catharsis theory¨ (Sparks 2010: 89- 92). A violent person watching violent media does not become less violent, and may even demonstrate elevated levels oI violence Ior a short period oI time aIter exposure. However, as Sparks also points out, not everyone reacts to media in the same way, and those without violent tendencies do not simply develop them when exposed to violent media. With this in mind, the Diamond and Uchiyama Iinding might be interpreted as Iollows: violent pornography does not necessarily reIlect the desires oI viewers or inIluence them to commit sex crimes. Likewise, the urge to view images oI sexualized girls does not necessarily reIlect the desires oI viewers or inIluence them to physically abuse girls. In Japan, where sexually explicit material depicting Iictional minors is 'readily available and widely consumed¨ (Diamond and Uchiyama 1999: 9), 8 there does not appear to be sexual abuse oI children to the extent oI, Ior instance, the United States. 9 Japan oIIers an opportunity to see how another modern capitalist nation deals with the Lolita eIIect. '()*"+and 1apanese consumer culture Japan has a history oI positioning the young girl at the center oI consumer and media culture. By the 1970s, the tumultuous years oI military occupation, economic recovery and social upheaval were over, and consumerism was rapidly rising (Murakami 2005: 119, 192; see also Yoda 2000). This engendered a turning point in Japan so drastic that Yoshimi Shun`ya argues it was the beginning oI 'post-postwar society¨ (Yoshimi 2009). Tokyo was one oI the most capital- saturated urban centers in the world, and an unprecedented amount was invested in advertising, packaging, design and image production (Yoshimi 2009: 56). Ötsuka Eiji argues that the young girl, or 'shõfo,¨ became a dominant image in the media, representing consumptive pleasure suspended Irom productive Iunctions (Ötsuka 1989: 18, 20). John Whittier Treat comments: 'Magazines, radio, above all television: in whatever direction one turns, the barely (and thus ambiguously) pubescent woman is there both to promote products and purchase them, to excite the consumer and herselI be thrilled by the Ilurry oI goods and services that circulate like toys around her¨ (Treat 1993: 361). Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 86 It is important to keep in mind that the shõfo is not necessarily real. She is, as Honda Masuko describes her, 'something evanescent, something that has no shape or actuality. Should we risk articulating this idea in words, we might label it the illusion oI beauty`¨ (Honda 2010: 32). Treat proposes that the shõfo is not necessarily male or Iemale, but rather is a distinct gender 'importantly detached Irom the productive economy oI heterosexual reproduction¨ (Treat 1993: 364). To a certain extent, then, the progressively younger age is predictable. Serizawa Shunsuke comments: 'Shõfo |girls| excel in cuteness, võfo |little girls| in innocence, and both have begun to signiIy an idealized Eros. The tendency to attribute this quality to Iemales at ever-younger ages can be seen as the inevitable consequence oI the spontaneous drive in consumer society to market an unproductive Eros as a new universal a new commodity¨ (Ötsuka and Nakamori 1989: 73). The shõfo was the Iirst to be identiIied as unproductive, but certainly not the last. Soon, not just young girls, but also boys, women and men were 'pure consumers¨ (funsui na shõhisha) shut away in pleasure rooms disconnected Irom concerns oI society and the state (Matsui 2005: 210-211). To phrase this in Hartley`s terms, mass media in Japan communicated through images oI young girls (shõfo), and comIort-seeking consumers were positioned as inIantilized and Ieminized subjects (shõfo) (Hartley 1998: 51). In the 1970s, some began to Iind the shõfo, the woman who is not one, to be an appealing Iictional ideal. Novelist and critic Honda Töru argues that at the time consumption had come to play an increasingly important role in courting in Japan, and women gravitated towards men with resources (Honda 2005: 66-67). He describes this as 'love capitalism¨ (renai shihon shugi), an extension oI market logic also reIlected in discussion oI 'the love gap¨ (renai kakusa), roughly corresponding to the income gap. According to Honda, men marginalized by this system, especially 'otaku¨ types investing in hobbies rather than relationships, turned to the Iictional girls (the shõfo) oI manga and anime (Honda 2005: 59, 81, 151). Such characters provide 'pure love¨ (funai), or love Iree oI socioeconomic concerns (Honda 2005: 209). Seeing in this the chance oI liberation, Honda proposes that men should abandon love capitalism, and along with it the bonds oI socially constructed masculinity, and Iocus on building intimate relationships with two- Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 87 dimensional girls (Honda 2005: 16, 81). Itö Kimio discusses this as a move towards a 'culture oI distance,¨ or the tendency to avoid direct physical engagement and instead visualize and control Iantasy objects (Itö 1992: 93-95). Simply, some men could not keep up with the rapid pace oI changes in Iemininity, and so disengaged Irom real adult women. This resonates with Durham`s proposition that the Lolita eIIect was encouraged by the patriarchal backlash against Ieminism (Durham 2009: 129), 10 but the use oI images/objects is more complicated than just male empowerment. Sharon Kinsella suggests that the shõfo possessed her own power, and male viewers both abused and identified with her to negotiate an ambiguous gender position (Kinsella 2006: 83). SpeciIically speaking oI lolicon, Kinsella discusses the shõfo as a perIormance scripted by and Ior men, one that became central Ior those transitioning Irom the 'male¨ position oI producer to the 'Iemale¨ position oI consumer. Risk and pre-emptive discipline A recurrent point in the discussion oI lolicon and the broader 'Lolita eIIect¨ is the emergence oI an environment where children are endangered by adult sexuality. The possibility oI 'cognitive distortions¨ and Iuture crimes is reason to regulate, iI not censor, images now. This discourse oI risk management needs to be placed in historical and theoretical context. Michel Foucault points out that in the 18th century the idea oI 'decency¨ began to appear in legislation and its enIorcement (Foucault 1988). However, 'in the pornographic explosion and the proIits that it involves, in this new atmosphere, it is no longer possible to use¨ decency 'to make the law Iunction¨ (Foucault 1988: 6). 11 As Foucault sees it: '|W|hat is emerging is a new penal system, a new legislative system, whose Iunction is not so much to punish oIIenses against these general laws concerning decency, as to protect populations and parts oI populations regarded as particularly vulnerable. In other words, the legislator will not justiIy the measures that he is proposing by saying: the universal decency oI mankind must be deIended. What he will say is: there are people Ior whom others` sexuality may become a permanent danger. In this category, oI course, are children, who may Iind themselves at the mercy oI an adult sexuality that is alien to them and may well be harmIul to them. Hence there is a legislation that appeals to this notion oI a vulnerable population, a high-risk population`¨ (Foucault 1988: 6). Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 88 For Foucault, the issue is that sexuality is not prohibited by precise laws against certain actions, but rather by a 'roaming danger¨ or an 'omnipresent phantom.¨ His example oI children at risk proves an apt one. Indeed, Catherine Lumby points out that child abuse is paradoxically seen as totally aberrant and yet widespread in contemporary society; its 'eIIects are seen everywhere but its source is impossible to locate¨ (Lumby 1998: 47-48). The crime thus 'attains a phantasmic status.¨ In the Internet age, where adults and children can come into unsupervised contact, there has been an explosion oI cultural concern and a condemnation oI child sex- imagery, seen as a step towards child sex-abuse. Thus, as Mark McLelland summarizes, 'any expression oI sexual interest in children communicated via any medium is in need oI surveillance, censorship and prosecution¨ (McLelland 2005: 62). The discourse is what James Kincaid calls a 'gothic narrative¨ where there is only absolute good (the children) and absolute evil (the pedophiles), which are impossible to question (Kincaid 1998). At the practical level, legislation against the production, distribution and consumption oI child pornography tends to separate images into three categories: real, pseudo and virtual (McLelland 2005: 63). The Iirst category is a record oI a crime. The second category involves digitally manipulated images oI children that sexualize them, which represents an abuse oI real children`s images and their right to privacy. The third category is concerned with purely Iictional representations, Ior example lolicon manga, anime and games. As McLelland points out, 'Since no actual child is harmed in any way as a result oI the creation and dissemination oI Iictional images, issues oI Ireedom oI expression and thought come to the Iore oI legislating against this material¨ (McLelland 2005: 64). The issue is the proper way to think, coupled with the 'roaming danger¨ oI those who might think the wrong way: '|T|he possibility that the sexualization oI child cartoon characters mav result in the reinIorcement oI cognitive distortions` requires regulation and management by the authorities. The proposition that the manipulation oI cartoon or animated characters (and this is particularly so in games regulation) mav pose a Iuture risk to actual people is suIIicient to regulate even this Iantasy space where no actual person is harmed and no real crime is committed¨ (McLelland, Iorthcoming). 12 McLelland draws attention to the situation in Australia, which at the time was in contrast Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 89 to the United States, where the Supreme Court`s ruling in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition (2002) seemed to protect virtual child pornography under the First Amendment`s right to Iree speech. This distinction is no longer so clear, however, as recent prosecution oI obscene manga in the United States demonstrates. In May 2006, a 38-year-old Iowa man named Christopher Handley went to pick up a package oI manga he ordered Irom Japan. He did not know that the Postal Inspector had obtained a warrant to search the package and Iound it to contain 'cartoon images oI objectionable content.¨ Handley took the package home, and was Iollowed by agents Irom the Postal Inspector`s oIIice, Immigration and Customs EnIorcement Agency, Special Agents Irom the Iowa Division oI Criminal Investigation and oIIicers Irom the Glenwood Police Department. They seized his collection oI over 1,200 manga books and publications, hundreds oI DVDs, VHS tapes, laser disks, seven computers and other documents. Handley was prosecuted, despite the Iact that the seven items he ordered many Irom the anthology Comic LO, or 'Comic Lolita Only¨ were only a small portion oI his collection, that they were purchased Ior private consumption, and that there was no evidence to show that he had ever owned real child pornography. He Iaced penalties under the 2003 PROTECT Act (18 U.S.C. Section 1466A), which Congress passed aIter the Supreme Court struck down a broader law prohibiting any visual depictions oI minors engaged in sexual activity. The PROTECT Act narrows the prohibition to cover only depictions that the deIendant`s community would consider 'obscene,¨ determined by the Miller test: (a) Whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards would Iind that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest. (b) Whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently oIIensive way, sexual conduct speciIically deIined by the applicable state law. (c) Whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientiIic value. Rather than attempt to explain lolicon to a shocked Iowa jury, Handley pleaded guilty in May 2009 and was sentenced in February 2010 to six months in prison. Further, the court ordered Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 90 three years oI supervised release and Iive years oI probation. During this time, Handley was to participate in a treatment program to assess his mental health and limit any possible Iuture crimes springing Irom 'sexual deviance.¨ Responding to critics oI the guilty plea, which kept the debate out oI the courtroom and might have set a dangerous precedent, Handley`s lawyer, Eric Chase, wrote to The Comics Journal and explained why he could not have won the case. First, Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition 'held that sexual images oI virtual minors could not be prosecuted as child pornography¨ but 'did not hold that virtual child pornography was legal¨ (Chase 2010: 1-2). Second, the PROTECT Act designates a mandatory sentence oI Iive years Ior the receipt oI materials depicting sexual abuse oI children, cross-reIerenced in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and so no diIIerent Irom real child pornography. Third, 'community standards¨ as laid out in the Miller test. Chase explains the issue: 'The Miller obscenity test is vague, indecipherable, and clearly chills protected speech. Among its most Irightening aspects is that its community standards` element mav allow moral majority` communities to dictate to the rest oI us. The extortionate tool given to prosecutors through the receipt charge, with its mandatory minimum, gives incentive to deIendants to not mount appropriate community standards` or serious artistic value` challenges¨ (Chase 2010: 3). The right to Iree speech becomes contingent on a poll that changes each time, a poll that is taken Irom a community that may not be the same as the community oI use. 1uridification of the imagination` There is a tension between local communities oI use and universal legislation or global standards, which can be approached theoretically. McLelland makes a useIul application oI Jürgen Habermas` discussion oI the 'juridiIication¨ oI 'liIeworlds¨ (McLelland, Iorthcoming). The liIeworld is a 'communicatively-based interpretation oI the world and individuals` perception oI their own and others` place in it¨ (McLelland, Iorthcoming). The liIeworld is 'colonized¨ by macro-level discourses derived Irom increased monetarization and Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 91 bureaucratization. Habermas reIers to a process oI juridiIication, or the expansion and densiIication oI law (i.e., more social relations are legally regulated in more complex ways). McLelland advances an understanding oI the legislation surrounding virtual child pornography as juridiIication: '|T|hat is, a densiIication` oI legislation limiting what can be imagined and produced. The result is that the interactive liIeworld communication oI Ian communities is increasingly hemmed in by regulations serving both commercial interests and the ideological biases oI government agents¨ (McLelland, Iorthcoming). There is a gap between what Ians think they are doing and how regulators understand their actions. This is all too obvious when images Irom manga, anime and games are extracted Irom the speciIic liIeworld context oI Ian communities and scrutinized with regard to abstract and universal notions oI child abuse. Despite the possibly criminal nature oI the representations, Ians do not understand highly stylized characters as 'real¨ or sexualized representations oI young characters to be 'child pornography.¨ 13 Fans 'militate against any kind oI real interpretation oI these stories¨ (McLelland 2005: 69), are oIIended by those aligning their works with child pornography and reject real and pseudo child pornography (McLelland 2010: 14). Characters do not necessarily represent real boys or girls, but rather what McLelland reIers to as a 'third gender¨ (McLelland 2005: 73). Speaking oI Iemale Ians consuming (and producing) images oI beautiIul boys, he writes, 'It is the intermediate nature oI these Iantasy characters that makes them amenable to diverse appropriations by women with a range oI sexual orientations¨ (McLelland 2005: 73). An examination oI lolicon culture reveals that the same is true Ior male Ians consuming (and producing) images oI beautiIul girls. Background of manga and anime BeIore moving to the speciIics oI lolicon, a brieI comment on the general prevalence oI sex and violence in manga and anime is required. AIter WWII, manga emerged as mass culture in Japan because it was cheap, and lower barriers to participation made it attractive Ior young creators (Schodt 1983: 62-66). Other more established outlets were harder to break into, and hierarchy was more prevalent. Tezuka Osamu, Ior example, wanted to be a Iilmmaker, but is now Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 92 remembered as the 'God oI Manga,¨ who revolutionized the medium. Even in the 1940s, mature themes and experimental techniques appeared in manga. It spread rapidly and became a staple oI popular culture beIore television. It also became a contested terrain, even an outlet Ior anti- establishment and proletariat themes (so-called 'gekiga,¨ or dramatic pictures, were attractive to members oI the student movement, Ior example). Tezuka`s Astro Bov paved the way Ior serialized TV anime in the 1960s. Even as the Iilm industry became more conservative and less appealing to young creators in the 1970s (Napier 2005: 16-17), there was an outpouring oI creativity in anime. As with manga, animation was not partitioned oII as 'Ior kids¨ and did not have many medium-speciIic limitations. Ötsuka Eiji argues that anime reIlects a hybrid oI inIluences Irom imported media, Ior example Disney animation and Russian avant-garde cinema, and thus developed expressions not seen in American or European cartoons. 14 Mariana Ortega- Brena adds, 'Given its roots in a kind oI animation the role oI which was never categorically diIIerentiated Irom narrative cinema, anime caters to all ages, collectively and individually, and is seen as a Iit medium Ior a wide array oI topics and techniques oI representation¨ (Ortega-Brena 2009: 23). Creators did not shy away Irom sex and violence. As Kinsella has noted, 'pornography has not been as strongly compartmentalized in post-war Japan as it has in post-war America or Britain. Pornographic images have tended to appear throughout the media as well as in speciIically pornographic productions¨ (Kinsella 2000: 46). Despite a notable preIerence Ior young and young-looking characters (McLelland 2005: 76), 15 these images, until recently, generated little anxiety. That is, there was little resistance to putting youthIul characters into sexual and violent situations, or showing images oI such characters to children as well as adults. Saitö Tamaki points out that though Tezuka was inspired by Walt Disney, they were vastly diIIerent creators. 16 II their characters are placed side by side, Tezuka`s look obviously younger. Further, Tezuka`s works abound with sex, violence and moral ambiguity, things Disney avoided. This set the tone Ior a very diIIerent sort oI comic and cartoon culture in Japan. Public/pubic surveillance Obscenity law in Japan, as elsewhere, is based on a vague premise: 'that which produces Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 93 a sense oI shame in a normal` Japanese person who encounters, in public, an image or text whose primary intension or eIIect is to stimulate sexual desire¨ (Allison 2000: 149). While enIorcement can take the Iorm oI restrictive censorship, it has historically been speciIic to depictions oI pubic hair and realistic genitalia (Allison 2000: 149). The general context oI the depiction is ignored. Anne Allison traces this to Japan`s period oI modernization and the promulgation oI Article 175 oI the Criminal Code in 1907 and Article 21 oI the Custom TariIIs Law in 1910. She argues that Japan was put into an inIerior position by western nations judging the emerging Asian power to be 'primitive¨ (Allison 2000: 163). New laws 'were a means oI covering the national body Irom charges that it was obscene¨ (Allison 2000: 163). Further, it was a Foucauldian shiIt toward disciplining that body in 'developing a notion oI the public as a terrain that is monitored and administered by the state¨ (Allison 2000: 163). The connection between obscenity and realistic depiction oI genitals was codiIied in 1918, when the courts ruled that the 'pubic area need not be hidden but there should be no anatomical details to draw the viewer`s attention¨ (Rubin 1984: 44). Although these restrictions loosened along with sexual censorship in the years Iollowing WWII, by the end oI the Allied Occupation in 1952 the laws regulating obscenity were reactivated. In 1969, the art book Sun-Warmed Nudes was deemed too explicit and denied importation into Japan. In many ways, prohibiting pubic hair encouraged the use oI models who appeared (or were) prepubescent or who had shaved pubises (Allison 2000: 169). Indeed, even as Sun-Warmed Nudes was denied a place in Japan, the discourse on lolicon began. Lolicon is an abbreviation Ior 'Lolita complex,¨ derived Irom Vladimir Nabokov`s novel Lolita (1955), but more associated with the Japanese translation oI Russell Trainer`s The Lolita Complex in 1969 (Takatsuki 2010: 6). That same year, shõfo nudes began to appear in major media outlets in Japan. A photo collection titled Nvmphet. The Mvth of the 12-Year-Old was released by Nobel Shobö (Takatsuki 2010: 50). In 1972 and 1973, there was an 'Alice boom¨ surrounding Alice in Wonderland, including nude photos inspired by the classic novel (Takatsuki 2010: 55). In 1976, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci became an international star at the Montreal Olympics. In Japan, she was called the 'white Iairy,¨ Iamous Ior the leotards that exposed her shapely legs (Takatsuki 2010: 47). With The Little Pretenders in 1979, shõfo nudes lost all pretense oI 'Iine art¨ and shiIted to the adult market. In the early 1980s, many specialty Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 94 magazines began to appear, carrying nude photos, reviews, essays on the appeal oI young girls, Iiction and 'reader submissions,¨ including illegal photographs oI girls on the street taken in moments oI unanticipated exposure (Takatsuki 2010: 47). This slowed down with laws passed in 1985, which were a response to the overexposure oI the sexualized shõfo. Takatsuki Yasushi notes that the boom in photographic images Iaded in the late 1980s not only because oI the backlash, but also because many young men preIerred two-dimensional images oI shõfo (Takatsuki 2010: 64-65). The rise of fictional #"#$%"&+ Manga, anime and games in Japan have historically been able to depict a variety oI sexual scenarios insoIar as pubic hair and genitals are hidden or eIIaced (Schodt 1983: 43, 136). The ability to make genitalia graphically simple, to erase or replace them, made manga an obvious choice Ior skirting obscenity laws. Fictional lolicon works appeared relatively early, beginning with Wada Shinji`s Alice in Wonderland-inspired short manga, Stumbling Upon a Cabbage Field, published in 1974. Fan works began with Hirukogami Ken`s Alice, published in 1978 (Takatsuki 2010: 102). The Iollowing year, Azuma Hideo, the 'Father oI Lolicon,¨ penned a work titled Cvbele, which Ieatured erotic images oI cartoony girl characters. Rather than being entirely pornographic, there was a humor intended in exposing and Ioregrounding the sexual appeal oI these characters. Itö Gö points out that the circular lines oI Tezuka`s characters had a certain eroticism to them, 17 but no one commented on it until Azuma. Pornographic manga had been done in a more realistic style, but, as cultural critic Takekuma Kentarö recalls, with Azuma suddenly 'Tezuka-style cute characters were having sex¨ (Takekuma 2003: 107). Takekuma sees the emergence oI such art as resistance to and parody oI the previous generation. At Iirst, only a minority saw these images as erotic, but soon there was a vocal Iandom (much to the chagrin oI many older Ians). This marked the birth oI a genre oI pornographic manga that was stimulating despite being, or precisely Ior being, unrealistic. While some lolicon images demonstrate a sharp contrast between realistic bodies and cartoony Iaces, the general trend aIter Azuma was towards an unrealistic (iconic, deIormed) aesthetic. Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 95 The rise oI lolicon is intimately tied to the rise oI hardcore manga and anime Ians (oIten reIerred to as 'otaku¨) in Japan. The increasingly complex narratives and visual style oI anime began attracting a more mature audience Irom the late 1970s (Murakami 2005: 133), as can be observed in the June 1977 issue oI Gekkan Out covering Space Battleship Yamato (Takatsuki 2010: 94). Part oI the trend was the emergence oI a discourse on beautiIul shõfo on lolicon (Takatsuki 2010: 97). Lupin III, the story oI a super thieI and his capers, captivated older Ians, and Miyazaki Hayao`s 1979 animated Ieature Iilm The Castle of Cagliostro was no exception. The young Iemale character Clarisse was particularly popular, and discussions oI her appeal connected to a series oI articles on lolicon in Gekkan Out, Animec and Animage (Takatsuki 2010: 97-98). In many ways, she became a 'lolicon¨ idol (Macias and Machiyama 2004: 48), though her age (16 years old) and look diIIer Irom images associated with the term today. Longing Ior Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 96 Img1: Erotic scene Irom Azuma Hideo`s 'Little Red Riding Hood in Wonderland,¨published in Cybele Vol. 1 (April 1979). Notice the roundness oI his characters, which are said to be cute rather than sexy. the heroines oI anime was not necessarily new Miyazaki himselI was apparently inspired to become a creator by his exposure at a young age to a shõfo character (Saitö 2007: 239) 18 but never beIore had it been openly discussed. There was a slew oI Ian works Ieaturing Clarisse, not explicitly sexual, but what Ians called 'Iairytale-esque¨ (meruhen) or 'girly¨ (otomechikku) Iorms oI lolicon (Takatsuki 2010: 102). Despite being preceded by the short-lived 'Clarisse syndrome,¨ the term 'lolicon¨ was Iavored, along with more parodic and pornographic representations. The so-called 'lolicon boom¨ came in the early 1980s. This was a time oI extreme consumption, when the market ripened enough to support niches (Takatsuki 2010: 14). Specialty magazines appeared, among them publications dedicated to lolicon such as Lemon People (Irom 1981) and Manga Burikko (Irom 1982). 19 There was a general outpouring oI lolicon art, both proIessional and amateur. Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 97 Img2: Clarisse Irom Miyazaki Hayao`s The Castle oI Cagliostro (1979) Fans took to watching anime shows targeting young girls (which tend to Ieature cute young Iemale characters) in search oI idols, and creators courted such viewers to increase ratings and proIits. For example, Magical Princess Minkv Momo (1982-1983) is the story oI a coquettish Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 98 Imgs3-4: Examples oI 'parody¨ art created during the lolicon boom little girl who transIorms into a sexy adult, complete with Ietish costumes. 20 Even companies that are now major in Japan were involved, Ior example Enix, which put out the erotic game Lolita Svndrome in 1983. The very Iirst erotic animation in Japan was Lolita Anime in 1984. While oIten described as a subculture, lolicon was a much more widespread media phenomenon than such a term might imply. It is worth restating that the Iascination with shõfo, the desire Ior young Iemale characters, was not necessarily sexual. The case oI Manga Burikko, one oI the core lolicon magazines in the early 1980s, 21 demonstrates this well. While it is diIIicult to know the precise target demographic oI the magazine, a survey published in the September 1983 issue shows that readers range Irom 'below 15¨ to 'above 26,¨ with the majority indicating that they are 17 years old. 22 Another survey in the November 1983 issue reveals that 80 percent oI readers are male, 15 percent Iemale and 5 percent undisclosed. Early issues oI Manga Burikko Ieature rather realistic images oI young Iemale characters in sexual situations. They also contain photos oI young nude girls (oIten Caucasian). The word 'shõfo¨ is used to describe one such girl in the February 1983 issue, indicating a loose association oI the subjects oI photographs (real girls) and drawings (Iictional ones). This inclusive approach to lolicon was not to last, however. In June 1983, a soIter aesthetic appears in the drawn images, and the magazine takes on the subtitle, 'Bishõfo comic magazine Ior dreaming boys¨ (vume miru otoko no ko no tame no bishõfo komikkushi). 23 Bishõfo literally means 'beautiIul girl,¨ but is a term reserved almost exclusively Ior Iictional characters. The Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 99 Img5: Promotional art Ior Magical Princess Minky Momo: Hold on to Your Dreams (1991-1992). Img6: Cover oI the premiere issue oI Manga Burikko in November 1982. Iollowing month, Eguchi Shigeki, a reader Irom Yamagata PreIecture, writes to the magazine that he preIers 'light¨ eroticism to 'erotic-grotesque¨ depictions (Manga Burikko, July 1983: 201). In August 1983, Kawaguchi Toshihiko Irom Hokkaidö PreIecture writes, 'I have a two-dimensional Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 100 Img7: Example oI more realistic pornographic images in Manga Burikko. Imgs8-10: Examples oI soIter lolicon images in Manga Burikko. complex (nifigen konpurekkusu). I don`t Ieel anything Ior the photographs in the opening pages. For that reason, I`d like you to stop with the pictures and run only manga¨ (Manga Burikko, August 1983: 201). Manga Burikko`s editors respond that on orders Irom the top 'there is no way we are taking the photographs out.¨ Complaints about the photographs as well as pornographic content continued, including a letter Irom Suzuki Yöko, a Iemale reader Irom Miyazaki PreIecture, who praises the artists Ieatured in Manga Burikko, but explains, 'I Ieel nothing Ior manga that is simply about penetration or girls being raped. I psychologically can`t accept it¨ (Manga Burikko, October 1983: 193). It seems that the editors Iinally yielded to reader demands in November 1983, symbolized by the issue`s subtitle: 'Totally bishõfo comic magazine¨ (maru maru bishõfo komikkushi). Gravure idol photography is entirely absent, and remained so Ior the rest oI the magazine`s existence. The editors reveal that the least popular section in the last issue was a photographic spread oI Kawai Kazumi (Manga Burikko, November 1983: 194). 24 Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 101 There are still photographs oI naked girls in advertisements, but the editors explain that this is a corporate issue and they cannot easily remove them (Manga Burikko, November 1983: 193). 25 The other notable change is the increasingly small place Ior realistic characters and explicit depictions oI sex. In general, lines are round and soIt. This reIlects not only the style seen in Azuma Hideo`s art, but also the inIluence oI shõfo manga, or comics Ior girls. While some might Iind this connection shocking, all the evidence points to it. Men began reading shõfo manga in the 1970s, 26 and Manga Burikko`s chieI editor, Ötsuka Eiji, was part oI that Iirst generation. 27 In the early 1980s, manga historian Frederik L. Schodt noted the large number oI men reading shõfo manga (Schodt 1983: 17). Both Schodt and Kinsella suggest that lolicon imagery was inIluenced by male artists mimicking shõfo manga (Schodt 1996: 55; Kinsella 1998: 304-306). This is arguably demonstrated in Manga Burikko. Schodt Iurther draws attention to the importance oI Iemale artists participating in the production oI erotic manga Ior male audiences. 28 And, in Iact, Manga Burikko regularly Ieatured well-known Iemale artists such as Okazaki Kyöko, Shirakura Yumi and Sakurazawa Erika. Given all this, shõfo characters and desires Ior them certainly cannot be reduced to 'male Iantasy.¨ 29 Likewise, engaging lolicon images, even when they are pornographic in Iunction or eIIect, is no simple matter. According to Akagi Akira, in the 1980s, the meaning oI lolicon among Ians shiIted away Irom older men having sex with younger girls (Akagi 1993: 230). The desire Ior two-dimensional images was not Ior girls per se, but rather 'girl-ness¨ (shõfo sei), symbolized by 'cuteness¨ (kawairashisa) (Akagi 1993: 230). The young age and small size oI characters were intended to ampliIy cuteness. Akagi proposes that substitution and mimicry in lolicon Iunction to transIorm straight sex into parodic Iorms (Akagi 1993: 230-231). It does not Iacilitate normal sex, but sexualizes that which is normally not sexual (Shigematsu 1999: 130). Shigematsu adds that the Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 102 Img12: A cover Irom the July 1985 issue oI Manga Burikko. Notice the image`s resemblance to shöjo manga Ior girls. male penis is oIten absent Irom lolicon (in compliance with obscenity laws, though not always so in the 1980s), and the replacements Ior it are objects that do not Ieel pleasure (Shigematsu 1999: 130). Further, the Iace oI the attacker is oIten not depicted (Akagi 1993: 232). Akagi sees this as a major distinction Irom the erotic manga that came beIore, where there was a sort oI 'hero attacker¨ with whom the reader identiIied. Rather, Akagi provocatively suggests that lolicon Ians project onto girls: 'Lolicon readers do not need a penis Ior pleasure, but rather they need the ecstasy oI the girl. At that time, they identiIy with the girl, and get caught up in a masochistic pleasure¨ (Akagi 1993: 232). 30 Itö Gö supports this analysis: 'Readers do not need to emphasize with the rapist, because they are projecting themselves on the girls who are in horrible situations. It is an abstract desire and does not necessarily connect to real desires. This is something I was told by a lolicon artist, but he said that he is the girl who is raped in his manga. In that he has been raped by society, or by the world. He is in a position oI weakness.¨ 31 Recall Kinsella`s suggestion that lolicon be understood as men perIorming the shõfo to come to terms with an unstable gender identity (Kinsella 2006: 81-83). II being a man ceases to promise power, potency and pleasure, it is no longer the privileged subject position. Akagi explains that lolicon is a Iorm oI selI-expression Ior those oppressed by the principles oI masculine competitive society (Akagi 1993: 232). 32 Lolicon is a rejection oI the need to establish oneselI as masculine and an identiIication with the 'kindness and love¨ oI the shõfo (Akagi 1993: 233). This interpretation reverses the standard understanding oI lolicon as an expression oI masculinity to one oI Iemininity. This is, oI course, not the only way to approach the wide range oI lolicon images, but it certainly highlights the complexity oI 'pornographic content¨ and its uses. Moral panic In the late 1980s, anxiety was building in Japan about the eIIects oI media saturation, emblazoned by Itö Seikö`s novel No Life King (1988), which tells oI grade schoolers who wake up one morning thinking the world is a game. In 1989, just as the Showa Period was coming to a Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 103 close, a young man named Miyazaki Tsutomu was arrested Ior murdering and molesting Iour girls between the ages oI Iour and seven. Police discovered 5,763 videotapes in his room, and the mass media decried him as an 'otaku,¨ a word that had come to be used to identiIy certain types oI manga and anime Ians. In the mass media coverage, however, otaku came to mean those with an 'unhealthy¨ Iixation on hobbies, or those who were disconnected Irom society and its norms. That is, in this process oI 'moral panic,¨ otaku were the 'Iolk devils¨ that represented all that was wrong with Japan (Kinsella 1998: 294). Perhaps Miyazaki was shut away in his private pleasure room surrounded by media and technology, Iixated on producing and consuming images oI shõfo, but this was not entirely deviant. In Iact, Treat contends that Miyazaki was both a symbol and a symptom oI the disconnection and excess oI Japanese consumer capitalism (Treat 1993: 355). As is hinted at in the Iilm Little Children (2007), the Iear and loathing oI child abusers seems connected to ambivalence about the sexualization oI modern culture and guilt about negligent parenting. Images oI them perhaps appall so powerIully because imagined deviance relates to personal Iears and unconscious wishes. Lolicon was a keyword in the media Irenzy surrounding the 'Miyazaki incident.¨ Examples oI it were Iound in his room (along with a book on shõfo culture by Ötsuka and images Irom Magical Princess Minkv Momo), and positioned as the source oI his deviance (Schodt 1996: 45-46, 49-59). Soon aIter his arrest, a non-proIit organization, CASPAR, was Iounded, campaigning Ior regulating pornographic depictions oI minors, even when purely Iictional. Schodt notes that in the early 1990s there was a very successIul nationwide movement to 'banish harmIul manga,¨ a movement made up oI 'housewives, PTAs, Japan`s new Ieminist groups, and politicians. Tougher local ordinances against obscene manga material were passed by various preIectures throughout Japan. Arrests oI store owners Iound to be selling this obscene material increased dramatically¨ (Schodt 1996: 56; see also Takeuchi 1995: 181-190). 33 However, so- called 'harmIul manga¨ was encouraged by obscenity laws, iI not also by the capitalist system itselI. To erase the genitals is to promise pleasure but ultimately withhold it, engendering a desire that cannot be IulIilled despite endless consumption. Further, as Allison states, 'Restrictive laws are actually a boost to the big business oI sexual Iantasy-making in Japan, which, in the Iormat oI Iantasy,` can be marketed to children as well as adults¨ (Allison 2000: 150). Indeed, this is precisely the situation that collapsed together target audiences Ior shõfo media in the 1980s (Ior Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 104 example, anime such as Magical Princess Minkv Momo) and placed adults and their desires in close proximity to children; this situation oI risk, as Foucault might put it, was in turn the kernel oI the moral panic. However, the ingrained need to expand the consumer base did not simply disappear. Selling adult sexuality to children and youthIul innocence to adults was Iar too proIitable to abandon. 34 As Akagi comments, in the early 1990s lolicon-type imagery (i.e., sexualized girls who appear underage) actually expanded and became acceptable in manga (Akagi 1993: 231). On the other hand, however, Akagi notes that lolicon Ians and so-called 'otaku¨ were branded, and there has been a lasting stigma. Indeed, the term lolicon is no longer widely used Ior this very reason. Since the Miyazaki incident, the mass media in Japan oIten associates violent youth crimes with disconnection Irom reality, especially enthusiastic consumption oI manga, anime and games. 35 Media eIIects are strongly implied, namely desensitization and priming. What these criticisms miss is that despite the prevalence oI sexual and violent images in anime, manga and games, there is nothing indicating that Ians are in any way more prone to crime (Saitö 2007: 228). With regards to lolicon, Takatsuki Yasushi points out that sexual abuse oI minors was statistically much more common in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s, and has actually been decreasing since, which roughly coincides with the increasing presence oI Iictional lolicon (Takatsuki 2010: 258-262). Drawing attention to this correlation, a trajectory that coincides with Diamond and Uchiyama`s general Iindings on pornography in Japan (Diamond and Uchiyama 1999), is not to suggest that desires are redirected Irom real children to Iictional ones. Rather, it is to suggest that the prevalence oI these images does not necessarily reIlect the desires oI the viewers or inIluence them to commit crimes. Not all Iantasy is compensatory; not all imaginings are oI that which is desired in reality. This calls into question dominant understandings oI how Iiction relates, or does not relate, to reality. The reality of fiction There is a robust literature in Japan on the reality oI Iiction, including contributions by psychologists, manga scholars and academics Irom a variety oI disciplinary backgrounds. One leader in this has been Saitö Tamaki, who has conducted clinical work with so-called otaku Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 105 (speciIically, Ians oI anime, manga and game) and written widely on otaku sexuality (see Saitö 2000). He proposes that due to an absence oI Platonistic ideals, Iiction in Japan has not been seen as necessarily subordinate to reality or striving to reach it. 36 Contrary to the idea that otaku are immature and conIused about the boundaries oI reality, Saitö argues that otaku have in sustained interaction with Iiction developed a mature awareness oI reality (Saitö 2000: 279-282). They are extremely strict about observing the distinction between Iiction and reality (Saitö 2007: 227). As Saitö sees it, otaku are those with an aIIinity Ior 'Iictional contexts¨ (kvokõ no kontekusuto), or those who react to Iiction itselI as a sexual object (Saitö 2007: 227). Otaku realize that the object oI desire is Iiction, and desire it precisely because it is Iiction. Anime, manga and games provide them 'an utterly imagined space with no correspondent in the everyday world, a space oI perIect Iictionality.deliberately separated Irom everyday liIe¨ (Saitö 2007: 245). 37 Thus while representations oI sex may be radical, otaku are by and large sexually conservative in their daily lives. Saitö speciIically deIends lolicon and stresses that it is not an expression or symptom oI pathology among otaku. Ironically, he implies that the United States and Europe, which have not established a distinct and separate 'Iictional space¨ (kvokõ kùkan) and thereIore cannot accommodate lolicon, might in a sense be less mature than otaku (Azuma, Saitö and Kotani 2003: 182). 38 Many oI Saitö`s assumptions are collaborated by Ötsuka Eiji, who proposes that there is an internal, enclosed reality to manga and anime (Ötsuka 2003). He calls this 'manga/anime-like realism¨ (manga anime teki riari:umu), as opposed to 'naturalism-like realism¨ (shi:enshugi teki riari:umu), in which reality is determined by resemblance to the natural world (Ötsuka 2003: 24). Fiction resembles Iiction, or Iollows its own logic, and captures a sense oI autonomous reality. A ready example is the large eyes oI manga and anime characters, which do not necessarily correspond to a human Iace. There is no such Iace in the natural world, but it adheres to the distinct reality oI manga and anime. It has an appeal separate Irom a human Iace; viewers do not want this Iace to be real or desire a human with such a Iace. Ötsuka points out that manga/anime- like realism is outside the reader or viewer, or is not mimetic oI the world as he or she experiences or perceives it. This does not, however, Ioreclose the possibility oI identiIication. In his discussion oI comics in general, Scott McCloud suggests that there are lines to 'see¨ and lines to 'be¨ (McCloud 1994: 43). Lines to see are detailed depictions that resemble the natural world, Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 106 while lines to be are not. The most obvious examples oI lines to be are simpliIied or 'iconic¨ characters, which, despite not resembling the physical viewer, resonate on a subconscious level with selI-image and invite identiIication (McCloud 1994: 29-42). For McCloud, such characters are open to identiIication by a broad and diverse range oI people, though one can just as easily deny identiIicatory possibilities. Manga/anime-like realism suggests the possibility oI complicated engagements with what is seen but not necessarily recognized (see Itö 2005: 135- 136; Ortega-Brena 2009: 25). Fantasy dimensions` As complex as the reality oI Iiction is, engagements with it are even more complex. Speaking oI manga speciIically, Shigematsu reIers to 'non-real¨ content as the Iirst dimension oI Iantasy (Shigematsu 1999: 132). She does not deny that manga is very real, but points out the distinction between external/physical/social reality and internal/mental/psychological reality, saying, 'It is in between these realms oI reality that manga is consciously read, mediated, and elaborated on through the reader`s internal/mental processes, and variously rejected, extrapolated, and/or interwoven into a personal repertoire oI memories, pleasures, Iears, and Iantasies¨ (Shigematsu 1999: 133). This is the second dimension oI Iantasy: personal Iantasy. Further, there is a third dimension oI Iantasy, or the psychological 'phantasy:¨ 'Phantasy is not a static Iorm but a dynamic one, and there are many distinct kinds oI phantasies (conscious, unconscious, and primal) which constitute a diIIerentiated topography oI the psyche. Phantasy is not Iree play, but involves structure, a driving logic, a relation to the subject`s perception oI external reality. |P|sychoanlaysis demonstrates how the desires (both conscious and unconscious) that structure the phantasy are contradictory yet, to a certain degree, comprehensible and explicable but not necessarily reconcilable with external reality¨ (Shigematsu 1999: 133-134). For Shigematsu, reading manga (or watching anime or playing games) is not a simple process: 'I think that identiIications are more oscillating and Iluid, shiIting and incomplete, moving among multiple contradictory (psychic) sites that are constituted diIIerently depending Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 107 on the speciIic history and experience oI the subject¨ (Shigematsu 1999: 136). She concludes that because oI the 'multiplicity oI identiIications and disidentiIications.such consumption will not necessarily cause the reader to think certain thoughts, Ieel aroused, repulsed, or indiIIerent, or become a pedophile, or child protection activist¨ (Shigematsu 1999: 137). How individuals consume, appropriate and transIorm media, and how they act aIterwards, cannot be determined in advance. Thus the issue must be production, not consumption: 'The use and potential abuse oI girls in the production oI pornography and their sexual molestation is a serious problem that must not be displaced onto or reduced to an issue oI pornographic content`¨ (Shigematsu 1999: 138). As this paper has argued, no one is hurt in the production oI lolicon, no abuse or sexual molestation occurs. The issue is entirely the desirability oI the 'pornographic content¨ and its consumption. Moe-phobia` Perhaps even more than the content, the act oI desiring that which is distinct and separate Irom reality is itselI oIIensive to some. The character becomes what Shigematsu calls a 'cuteness Ietish,¨ which 'replaces a lack oI desire Ior the real thing` a lack oI desire that young men are naturally` supposed to possess Ior real young women¨ (Shigematsu 1999: 132). The desire is 'unnatural¨ and thus disturbing. In many ways, insistence on the shõfo, the Iictional girl, engenders a certain reIusal. This woman who is not one oIIers a way out oI the 'real,¨ or the 'body politic centered by the reproductions oI Iamily¨ (Allison 2000: 173). This in many ways approaches a queer politics, speciIically Lee Edelman`s rejection oI 'reproductive Iuturism¨ (Edelman 2004). The space oI Iantasy play is liminal, and extended engagement with it destabilizes the social structure, or at least triggers a Iear that it will be destabilized (Kam 2008: 57). Following this logic, Itö Gö notes the existence oI what he calls 'moe-phobia¨ (Itö 2008: 24- 25). Moe reIers to a response to Iictional characters or representations oI them (Galbraith 2009). Thomas LaMarre describes it as an aIIective response 'prior to the Iormation oI a distinct subject or viewing position¨ (LaMarre 2009: 281). Itö believes that people react negatively to those pursuing moe not because the objects oI aIIection are Iictional 'underage¨ characters who may engage in 'obscene¨ acts, but rather because the pursuit itselI represents a diIIerent way oI approaching reality and a 'queer¨ orientation (beIore distinct subject positions). In this way, one Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 108 might posit that the current backlash against desiring purely Iictional characters is 'moe-phobia,¨ or a violent reaction to desiring outside socially accepted Iorms. Conclusion Many scholars speak oI the increasing role Japanese popular culture plays in the 'global imagination¨ (see Allison 2006). The assimilation oI Japanese entertainment marks the 'making oI a new norm` that becomes part oI mass culture`s possible imaginary¨ (Shigematsu 1999: 127). The question, however, is what is the possible imaginary? At present, certain Iorms oI imagination are under attack on a global scale. They are labeled dangerous or obscene and banned. This is reason Ior pause. As McLelland points out, Iantasy is oIten 'deliberatelv transgressive¨ (McLelland 2005: 74-75). 39 Even iI a 'normal¨ citizen might Iind it oIIensive, or precisely because it represents such a challenge, the Ireedom oI expression must be upheld. Fans oI anime, manga and games come together to Iorm 'counterpublics,¨ which are supportive oI critical analysis oI the mainstream (McLelland 2005: 75). For McLelland, 'apparently unobjectionable child protection` legislation, when handled badly, has serious ramiIications Ior adult communication, particularly that conducted between sexually nonconIormist individuals and groups even when that communication involves fantasv alone¨ (McLelland 2005: 75). The current trend is to close down what Shigematsu calls 'alternative sites and diIIerent dimensions¨ oI sex and sexuality (Shigematsu 1999: 128). The resistance to virtual child pornography such as lolicon 40 is a case in point. Some Iree speech advocates have attempted to deIend lolicon on the grounds that only the Iaces oI characters appear childish, and the curvy hips mark them as adult women. While the goal is admirable, the argument is misguided, as it seeks to set aside certain Iorms oI imagination as 'healthy¨ and others as not, and risks legitimizing censorship accordingly. What iI a character appears in both Iace and physique to be a child, but is indicated in the narrative to be above the legal age oI consent? In the end, is it not strange to even consider the legal age oI consent Ior purely Iictional characters? Such characters are only as old as they are imagined to be, just as sex with them is only imagined. Because there is no actual crime committed, it ultimately ends up an issue oI how one interprets images, oI a person`s private thoughts, and this is not something that Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 109 can or should be regulated. All Iorms oI imagination, regardless oI how repugnant some may Iind them, are legal up to and until they present a real danger to selI or others. The evidence suggests that those producing and consuming lolicon images pose no such danger. They have a nuanced understanding oI the relationship between Iiction and reality, and desire shõfo characters precisely because they are unreal. That said, it is not possible or even prudent to posit a uniIied way that 'they¨ approach 'these¨ images. Interactions with media are dynamic, and deIy static categories oI analysis. For example, Shigematsu takes up the appearance oI lolicon images in manga written by and Ior adult women (Shigematsu 1999: 146). It is important to allow Ior such unexpected engagements regardless oI age and sex. Sexual violence against women and children is an unIortunate social reality, and censoring Iictional depictions does not reduce it (Shigematsu 1999: 147). It does, however, make it taboo to even imagine sexual violence and denies a space to represent and respond to it. It positions women and children as 'pure,¨ objectiIying them every bit as much as the 'Lolita eIIect¨ (Durham 2009: 12). Indeed, such reiIication is one halI oI the twin processes oI 'juvenation,¨ the revaluation oI girls (Hartley 1998: 51). Today, growing up in a saturated media environment and encountering images oI sexualized girls is something that cannot be avoided. However, the case oI Japan demonstrates that this need not contribute to problematic or pathological desires. To the Iear that images oI sexualized children, even Iictional ones, naturalize 'cognitive distortions,¨ the response must be that learning is a social process. This is precisely why the liIeworlds oI Ians, including lolicon Ians, should not be 'juridiIied¨ out oI existence (McLelland Iorthcoming). It is in these communities, in interaction with one another, that meanings are negotiated. Universal standards will not prevent someone, somewhere Irom getting the wrong idea, and limiting public interaction may in even encourage it. References Akagi, Akira. 1993. 'Bishõfo shõkõgun. Rorikon to iu vokubõ¨ |The BeautiIul Girl Syndrome: The Desire Called Lolicon|, New Feminism Review (3). Allison, Anne. 2000. Permitted and Prohibited Desires. Mothers, Comics, and Censorship in Japan. Berkeley: University oI CaliIornia Press. Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 110 ----. 2006. Millennial Monsters. Japanese Tovs and the Global Imagination. Berkeley: University oI CaliIornia Press. Azuma, Hiroki, Saitö Tamaki and Kotani Mari. 2003. 'Otaku, vaoi, dõbutsuka` |Otaku, Yaoi, Animalization|, in Mõfõ genron F-kai |Networked Discourse ReIorm F|, Azuma Hiroki ed. Tokyo: Seidösha. Chase, Eric. 2010. 'Christopher Handley`s Attorney Comments On His Case,¨ The Comics Journal. ·http://www.tcj.com/news/christopher-handley°E2°80°99s-attorney-comments-on- his-case/~ Clover, Carol. 1992. Men, Women, and Chain Saws. Gender in the Modern Horror Film. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Diamond, Milton, and Uchiyama Ayako. 1999. 'Pornography, Rape and Sex Crimes in Japan,¨ International Journal of Law and Psvchiatrv (22:1). Durham, M. Gigi. 2009. The Lolita Effect. The Media Sexuali:ation of Young Girls and the Five Kevs to Fixing It. New York: Overlook Press. Edelman, Lee. 2004. No Future. Queer Theorv and the Death Drive. Durham: Duke University Press. Foucault, Michel. 1988. 'Sexual Morality and the Law,¨ in Politics, Philosophv, Culture. Interviews and Other Writings, 1977-1984, Lawrence D. Kritzman ed. New York: Routledge. Galbraith, Patrick W. 2009. 'Moe: Exploring Virtual Potential in Post-Millennial Japan,¨ The Electronic Journal of Contemporarv Japanese Studies. ·http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/2009/Galbraith.html~ Grassmuck, Volker. 1990. 'I`m alone, but not lonely`: Japanese Otaku-kids Colonize the Realm oI InIormation and Media: A Tale oI Sex and Crime Irom a Faraway Place.¨ ·http://www.cjas.org/~leng/otaku-e.htm~ Hartley, John. 1998. 'Juvenation: News, Girls and Power,¨ in News, Gender and Power, Cynthia Carter, Gill Branston and Stuart Allan eds. London: Routledge. Honda, Masuko. 2010. 'The Genealogy oI Hirahira: Liminality and the Girl,¨ Tomoko Aoyama and Barbara Hartley trans, in Girl Reading Girl in Japan, Tomoko Aoyama and Barbara Hartley eds. London: Routledge. Honda, Töru. 2005. Moeru otoko |The Budding Man|. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobö. Itö, Kimio. 1992. 'Cultural Change and Gender Identity Trends in the 1970s and 1980s,¨ International Journal of Japanese Sociologv (1). Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 111 Itö, Gö. 2005. Te:uka i:u deddo. Hirakareta manga hvõgenron e |Tezuka is Dead: Towards an Expanded Discourse oI Manga Expression|. Tokyo: NTT Shuppan. ----. 2008. 'Moe` to moeIobia`¨ |'Moe¨ and 'Moephobia¨|, Kokubungaku |National Literature| (53:16). Kam, Thiam Huat. 2008. 'The Common Sense that Makes the 'Otaku¨: Rules Ior Consuming Popular Culture in Contemporary Japan,¨ M.A. thesis submitted to the National University oI Singapore. Kincaid, James. 1998. Erotic Innocence. The Culture of Child Molesting. Durham: Duke University Press. Kinsella, Sharon. 1998. 'Japanese Subculture in the 1990s: Otaku and the Amateur Manga Movement,¨ Journal of Japanese Studies (24:2). ----. 2000. Adult Manga. Culture and Power in Contemporarv Japanese Societv. Honolulu: University oI Hawaii Press. ----. 2006. 'Minstrelized Girls: Male PerIormers oI Japan`s Lolita Complex,¨ Japan Forum (18:1). LaMarre, Thomas. 2009. The Anime Machine. A Media Theorv of Animation. Minneapolis: University oI Minnesota Press. Lumby, Catherine. 1998. 'No Kidding: Paedophilia and Popular Culture,¨ Continuum (12). Macias, Patrick, and Machiyama Tomohiro. 2004. Cruising the Anime Citv. An Otaku Guide to Neo Tokvo. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. Matsui, Midori. 'Beyond the Pleasure Room to a Chaotic Street: TransIormations oI Cute Subculture in the Art oI the Japanese Nineties,¨ in Little Bov. The Arts of Japans Exploding Subculture, Murakami Takashi ed. New Haven: Yale University Press. McCloud, Scott. 1994. Understanding Comics. The Invisible Art. New York: HarperPerennial. McLelland, Mark. 2005. 'The World oI Yaoi: The Internet, Censorship and the Global Boys` Love` Fandom,¨ Australian Feminist Law Journal (32). ----. 2010. 'Australia`s Proposed Internet Filtering System: Its Implications Ior Animation, Comics and Gaming (ACG) and Slash Fan Communities,¨ Media International Australia (134). ----. Forthcoming. 'Australia`s Child-Abuse Materials Legislation, Internet Regulation and the JuridiIication oI the Imagination.¨ Miyazaki, Hayao, and Murakami Ryü. 1988. 'Boys as Leads Versus Girls as Leads,¨ excerpts Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 112 Irom dialogue in Animage (125) translated by Toyama Ryoko, edited by Eric Henwood-Greer and posted on Hayao Miyazaki Web ·http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/interviews/heroines.html#s3 ~ Murakami, Takashi ed. 2005. Little Bov. The Arts of Japans Exploding Subculture. New Haven: Yale University Press. Nagayama, Kaoru. 2003. Sekushuariti no henvõ |Changes in Sexuality|, in Mõfõ genron F-kai |Networked Discourse ReIorm F|, Azuma Hiroki ed. Tokyo: Seidösha. Napier, Susan J. 2005. Anime. From Akira to Howls Moving Castle. New York: Palgrave. Naitö, Chizuko. 2010. 'Reorganization oI Gender and Nationalism: Gender Bashing and Loliconized Japanese Society,¨ in Mechademia 5. Fanthropologies, Frenchy Lunning ed. Minneapolis: University oI Minnesota Press. Ortega-Brena, Mariana. 2009. 'Peek-a-boo, I See You: Watching Japanese Hard-core Animation,¨ Sexualitv & Culture (13). Ötsuka, Eiji. 1989. Shõfo min:okugaku |Native Ethnology oI Girls|. Tokyo: Köbunsha. ----. 2003. Kvarakutã shõsetsu no tsukurikata |How to Make Character Novels|. Tokyo: Ködansha. Ötsuka, Eiji, and Nakamori Akio. 'Bokura wa media no kodomo da¨ |We are Children oI the Media|, in M no sedai. Bokura to Miva:aki-kun |The Generation oI M: Miyazaki and Us|. Tokyo: Öta Shuppan. Rubin, Jay. 1984. Infurious to Public Morals. Writers and the Meifi State. Seattle: University oI Washington Press. Saitö, Tamaki. 2000. Sentõ bishõfo no seishin bunseki |Psychoanalysis oI Armored Cuties|. Tokyo: Öta Shuppan. ----. 2007. 'Otaku Sexuality,¨ Christopher Bolton trans, in Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams. Japanese Science Fiction from Origins to Anime, Christopher Bolton, Stan Csiscery-Ronay Jr. and Tatsumi Takayuki eds. Minneapolis: University oI Minnesota Press. Schodt, Frederik L. 1983. Manga' Manga' The World of Japanese Comics. Tokyo: Kodansha International. ----. 1996. Dreamland Japan. Writings on Modern Manga. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. Shigematsu, Setsu. 1999. 'Dimensions oI Desire: Sex, Fantasy, and Fetish in Japanese Comics,¨ in Themes in Asian Cartooning. Cute, Cheap, Mad, and Sexv, John A. Lent ed. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University Popular Press. Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 113 Sparks, Glenn G. 2010. Media Effects Research. A Basic Overview. Boston: Wadsworth. Takatsuki, Yasushi. 2010. Rorikon. Nihon no shõfo shikõshatachi to sono sekai |Lolicon: Japan`s Shöjo Lovers and Their World|. Tokyo: Basilico. Takekuma, Kentarö. 2003. 'Otaku no dai ichi sedai no fiko bunseki. Akumade kofinteki na tachiba kara |SelI-Analysis oI the First Generation oI Otaku: From an Entirely Personal Standpoint|, in Mõfõ genron F-kai |Networked Discourse ReIorm F|, Azuma Hiroki ed. Tokyo: Seidösha. Takeuchi, Osamu. 1995. Sengo manga 50 nenshi |50 Years oI Postwar Manga|. Tokyo: Chikuma Raiburarï. Thompson, Kirrilly. 2010. 'Because Looks Can Be Deceiving: Media Alarm and the Sexualization oI Childhood Do We Know What We Mean?¨ Journal of Gender Studies (19:4). Treat, John Whittier. 1993. 'Yoshimoto Banana Writes Home: Shõfo Culture and the Nostalgic Subject,¨ Journal of Japanese Studies (19:2). Yoda, Tomiko. 2000. 'The Rise and Fall oI Maternal Society: Gender, Labor, and Capital in Contemporary Japan,¨ South Atlantic Quarterlv (99:4). Yoshimi, Shun`ya. 2009. Posuto sengo shakai |Post-Postwar Society|. Tokyo: Iwanami Shinsho. Patrick W. Galbraith is a Ph.D. candidate in the Graduate School oI Interdisciplinary InIormation Studies at the University oI Tokyo. Recent publications include 'Moe: Exploring Virtual Potential in Post-Millennial Japan¨ (efcfs, 2009), 'Akihabara: Conditioning a Public Otaku` Image¨ (Mechademia 5, 2010) and 'Maid in Japan: An Ethnographic Account oI Alternative Intimacy¨ (Intersections, 2011). Contact him at Patrick¸W¸Galbraith¸hotmail.com. Image & Narrative, Vol 12, No1 (2011) 114 1 For example, on March 11, 2008, UNICEF Japan issued a statement calling Ior Iurther tightening oI child pornography laws in Japan, including the ban oI sexual depictions oI minors in manga, anime and computer games. 2 According to Takatsuki Yasushi`s Iieldwork among Ians, the peak age Ior a lolicon idol is 12, when secondary sex characteristics emerge (Takatsuki 2010: 14-15). As Takatsuki sees it, lolicon is diIIerent Irom pedophilia, which is directed at children beIore secondary sex characteristics emerge (Takatsuki 2010: 18-20). Lolicon also encompasses asexual desires, discussed below. 3 On February 24, 2010, a proposal was submitted to reIorm the Tokyo Youth Healthy Development Ordinance. The proposed reIorm included an amendment to article seven, which states that producers and proprietors are to avoid exposing youth to text and images that stimulate sexual Ieelings, promote cruelty, induce suicide or crimes or other things that might inhibit the healthy development. The proposed amendment concerned published materials, speciIically sexual depictions oI 'non-existent youth¨ (hifitsu:ai seishõnen). Non-existent youth reIers to a depiction that the viewer can identiIy as underage through visual and textual indicators such as age, dress, personal belongings, school grade, background/setting and so on. What matters is what one can 'recognize¨ (ninshiki) as a minor or sex act; the issue here is thought processes. The amendment received massive resistance Irom publishers, artists, academics and Ians, but eventually passed on December 15, 2010 (selI regulation mandated Irom April 1, 2011, and sales regulation enIorced Irom July 1, 2011). While the reIorm bill removes problematic reIerences to 'non-existent minors,¨ it in Iact expands the target to any character, irrespective oI age, engaged in 'sexual or pseudo sexual acts that would be illegal in real liIe¨ or 'sexual or pseudo sexual acts between close relatives whose marriage would be illegal¨ iI presented in a manner that 'gloriIies or exaggerates¨ the acts in question. Fujimoto Yukari has called this the 'Nonexistent (sex) crimes bill,¨ stating 'the logic is that any illegal sex act that would be subject to penalty should be regulated even when only drawn on paper.¨ Translations are by Dan Kanemitsu and are available on his blog: ·http://dankanemitsu.wordpress.com/2010/12/05/bill-156-the-nonexistent-crimes-bill-Iujimotos-analysis- translated/~. 4 This statement was made by Asakawa Hideo oI the Tokyo Metropolitan OIIice Ior Youth AIIairs and Public SaIety on December 9, 2010. For details, see ·http://togetter.com/li/77163~. 5 Posted on her blog, translated and reposted by Kanemitsu on his blog: ·http://dankanemitsu.wordpress.com/2010/12/05/bill-156-the-nonexistent-crimes-bill-Iujimotos-analysis- translated/~. 6 Similar to what Naitö Chizuko calls the 'loliconization phenomenon¨ (rorikonka genshõ), which indicates 'the commodiIication oI children, young girls (shõfo), and young women as sexual symbols in society¨ (Naitö 2010: 328). Naitö also matches M. Gigi Durham`s logic (Durham 2009: 129) in proposing that men who are unable to communicate with members oI the opposite sex project 'delusions¨ onto the empty symbol oI the girl, who is in her innocence made to lack an autonomous will. 7 For Iurther critique oI Durham and media reports on sexualized children, see Thompson 2010. 8 Page numbers reIer to the online version: ·http://www.hawaii.edu/PCSS/biblio/articles/1961to1999/1999-pornography-rape-sex-crimes-japan.html~. 9 Instances oI sexual abuse in Japan are low, only 754 cases in 2000 (Ministry oI Health, Labor and WelIare: ·http://www.uraoka.com/gyakutai/page36¸b.PDF~) compared to 89,500 cases in the U.S. in 2000 (OIIice oI Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention: ·www.ncjrs.gov/pdIIiles1/ojjdp/199298.pdI~). This is not a conclusive comparison, oI course, as the size and population oI the two countries is vastly diIIerent, and there is the concern oI possible underreporting in Japan. However, the point stands. Despite criticism oI Japan Ior its virtual content, North America hosts the majority oI sites Ior real and pseudo child pornography 48 percent compared to 7 percent in Asia (UK Internet Watch Foundation: ·http://www.iwI.org.uk/resources/trends#Location~). 10 Durham writes: 'Little girls Iit more easily into a conventional mold oI Iemale sexuality: a perspective in which she lacks authority over her own body and is thereIore less threatening than any adult woman today. Because oI this, little girls epitomize a patriarchal society`s ideal oI compliant, docile sexuality¨ (Durham 2009: 129). This is a Iamiliar critique oI desire Ior shõfo in Japan. Shibusawa Tatsuhiko, Ior example, suggests that lolicon is the epitome oI the 'one-way street¨ (ippõ tsùkõ) oI male sexual desire (quoted in Takatsuki 2010: 6). He writes, '|I|t is the shõfo who most perIectly satisIies the essential sexual urges oI the male.because both socially and sexually the shõfo is utterly ignorant. And being ignorant, the shõfo like little birds and dogs symbolizes the total object, the object oI play, and one that cannot express itselI oI its own accord¨ (quoted in Treat 1993: 363). 11 Page numbers reIer to the online version: ·http://www.ipce.inIo/ipceweb/Library/danger.htm~. 12 Quotes are Irom a draIt obtained by the author. Many oI these points came out at a public lecture titled 'Australia`s Child-Abuse Materials Legislation, Internet Regulation and the JuridiIication oI the Imagination,¨ held at The University oI Queensland on November 9, 2010. 13 Where Ians are aware oI the extent oI the law, anxiety exists Irom not knowing what images considered harmless by those inside the community might be considered harmIul by those outside oI it. The result is selI-censorship and regulation, as well as marginalizing and discriminating against Ians oI media that might be deemed 'obscene.¨ That is, the values oI society at large are rearticulated into the Ian community. 14 Personal interview, October 2, 2009. 15 '|C|haracters who we know Irom their histories in the narrative are adult may well appear to be under the age oI 16 to those unIamiliar with the visual tropes oI the genre¨ (McLelland 2005: 76). 16 Personal interview, February 26, 2010. 17 Personal interview, March 19, 2010. Saitö Tamaki and Honda Töru elaborated on this point in separate interviews (February 26, 2010 and September 26, 2009, respectively). 18 Miyazaki Hayao`s Future Bov Conan (1978) Ieatured an 11-year-old girl named Lana, another character central to the early development oI lolicon. The director became a Iavorite among otaku Ior his 'three princesses:¨ Clarisse Irom The Castle of Cagliostro, Nausicaa Irom Nausicaa of the Jallev of the Wind (1984) and Sheeta Irom Laputa. Castle in the Skv (1986). Nausicaa is perhaps the most popular Iemale character in anime history, spending 54 months at the No. 1 spot on the character rankings in Animage magazine. However, it is unclear how much Miyazaki condoned Ian activities. In an interview, the director commented on the cuteness oI his characters: 'It`s diIIicult. They immediately become the subjects oI lolicon Iantasy. . |T|here are too many people who shamelessly depict (Iemale protagonists) as iI they just want them as pets, and things are escalating more and more¨ (Miyazaki and Murakami 1988). It might be said that the end oI the 1970s and beginning oI the 1980s was a time when there was still a gap between the desires oI producers and consumers, which eroded with the rise oI a new generation oI Ians who transitioned to creators. A ready example is Gainax, a major animation company well known Ior starting out as a group oI Ians who produced the cult-classic opening animation Ior the Daicon III Iestival in 1981, which Ieatures a lolicon-type character. 19 Others include Manga Hot Milk, Melon Comic, Monthlv Halflifta and so on. 20 Those involved with these works, like Miyazaki, tend to denounce older male viewers or the 'otaku¨ audience. Satö Toshihiko, president oI Production Reed and planner oI the original Magical Princess Minkv Momo, claims that he had no knowledge oI such Ians until aIter the anime was already on air, and calls them and their activities 'disgusting¨ (kimochi warui) (personal interview, July 28, 2010). 21 Manga Burikko was important Ior building Ian consciousness, community and pride. For example, a quiz in the September 1983 issue is titled 'Lolicon Mania Exam: How Much oI a Lolicon are You?¨ 22 OI a total 59 responses, 17 indicated that the respondent was 17 years old. It is saIe to assume that there was a Iairly low response rate, and that the older readers (oIten endearingly reIerred to in the pages oI the magazine as 'ofisan,¨ or middle-aged men) are underrepresented. 23 It is diIIicult to know Ior certain iI there was a subtitle beIore this, or iI that subtitle was diIIerent, as the April and May 1983 issues oI Manga Burikko were not available at the Contemporary Manga Library in Waseda when archival research was conducted in 2010. There are no subtitles on the covers oI magazines dated March 1983 or beIore. 24 Many readers apparently commented that her breasts were simply 'too big.¨ That is, she was too physical, too womanly, too real. Kawai was 18 years old at the time, and her semi-nude photos appeared right aIter a section titled 'UniIorms are Correct! Sailor-suit Illustration Collection,¨ which Ieatured young, ethereal girls (most in school uniIorms) drawn by Ian-Iavorite artists. The contrast with Kawai`s spread is stark, perhaps accounting to some extent Ior the tension and negative reaction. 25 Saitö interprets this as a major turning point, as it signaled that lolicon Ians did not need, or even want, realistic depictions (personal interview, February 26, 2010). 26 According to Itö Kimio (personal interview, February 19, 2010). There was a renaissance in shõfo manga in the 1970s, and a number oI men were attracted to the avant-garde works oI 'the MagniIicent Forty- Niners,¨ and well as the 'girly¨ (otomechikku) works oI Mutsu A-ko. 27 According to Itö Gö (personal interview, March 19, 2010). 28 The prime example oI a Iemale artist having a major impact on the Iorms oI male desire is Takahashi Rumiko, author oI the manga Urusei Yatsura (1978-1987). The main Iemale character, Lum, is remembered as a sex symbol in Japan, and an important one Ior young men growing up in the 1980s. Her image oIten appears in Ian art submitted to Manga Burikko. 29 Nagayama Kaoru argues that erotic manga in general is not simply pornography by and Ior men, as women were incorporated into the creative process in order to sell product (Nagayama 2003: 43). Though creators are almost equally divided between men and women, there are women writing as men and men writing as women; others write using names that are gender ambiguous, Ior example the names oI objects (Nagayama 2003: 43-44). Nagayama argues that you cannot tell iI the author is male or Iemale simply by the visual style. He concludes: 'There is no other genre where the sex oI creators is as chaotic¨ (Nagayama 2003: 44). 30 Nagayama suggests that since the lolicon boom in the 1980s, there has been a marked preIerence Ior identiIication with cute girls rather than 'sweaty men¨ (Nagayama 2003: 52). Indeed, he goes so Iar as to say that the history oI erotic manga has been not about men`s pleasures, but rather depictions oI Iemale pleasure, and it is natural that men would eventually want to be on the receiving end. 31 Personal interview, March 19, 2010. Carol Clover observes a similar dynamic among male Ians oI horror Iilms, who at times identiIy with emotional Iemales rather than their monstrous attackers (Clover 1992). 32 Resonating with Honda`s critique oI gender roles and the emergence oI two-dimensional love in Japan in the 1970s (Honda 2005: 66-81). 33 For example, in 1991, police took 74 people into custody Ior possession oI obscene manga. 34 The ban on depictions oI pubic hair was partially liIted in 1991, leading to a string oI 'hair nude¨ photo books, but manga and anime did not qualiIy as artistic exceptions. While child pornography was outlawed in Japan in 1999, manga, anime and games escaped the regulation, preserving the market. 35 For example, a man who murdered a seven-year-old girl in Nara PreIecture in 2005 was suspected oI being a 'lolicon.¨ AIter wide media speculation, which disseminated to the public the image oI lolicon as pathological, it was revealed that the man had no interest in anime or manga. On June 9, 2008, the Evening Fufi newspaper identiIied a mass-murderer as sexually repressed and a 'lolicon.¨ This had nothing to do with his crime (a massacre oI random people in broad daylight in Akihabara), and was only based on a coworker`s testimony. Later that year, a man murdered a Iive-year-old girl in Chiba PreIecture, and the media reminded Japan that he was a Ian oI the Prettv Cure anime Iranchise, which targets young girls but Ieatures sexy Iemale character designs. In these cases and others, consumption habits were explicitly or implicitly linked to heinous crimes in reactionary mass media reporting. 36 Personal interview, February 26, 2010. 37 Akagi Akira agrees with Saitö that Ior Japanese growing up since the 1970s, Iiction and reality already existed as parallel spaces oI possibility (Akagi 1993: 233-234). For example, media and anime characters were very much a real part oI everyday liIe. The private spaces oI Iantasy began to overlap in Iiction such as lolicon, which made them into a 'communal Iantasy¨ (kvõdõ gensõ), both public and commercial. Fiction was real, but also completely separate Irom reality. Volker Grassmuck, commenting on representations oI sex in manga and anime in general, writes: 'Maybe they represent pure, abstract sex, the simulation oI stimulation¨ (Grassmuck 1990: 9). 38 This point was expanded in a personal interview (February 26, 2010), where Saitö went so Iar as to suggest that it is the reality oI pedophilia in the United States and Europe that makes it impossible to approach as Iantasy. Honda made a similar comment (personal interview, September 26, 2009). This remarkable reversal has it that it is precisely the lack oI real child abuse in Japan that allows Ior Iictional representations oI sexualized children. 39 Lolicon is certainly an example oI this. Azuma Hiroki identiIies a global trend towards approaching sex and violence as separate, and lolicon as a resistant trend where attention is drawn to, and pleasure drawn Irom, power diIIerentials (Azuma, Saitö and Kotani 2003: 180). For Azuma, lolicon is treated much the same way as terrorism, because it builds on a Iear oI violence, only sexual rather than political or religious in nature. 40 Though lolicon is not necessarily always pornographic, and in the Iorm oI 'moe-style¨ (moe-kei) works today consists mostly oI mild eroticism (Ior example, glimpses oI panties rather than explicit sex or vaginal penetration).