The Nonexistent Youth Bill, which was introduced in May, saw a lot of controversy even before it was put up for voting. The aim of the bill was to create guidelines to prohibits minors from buying explicit manga or anime material that featured characters that look or sound under the legal age limit. Well, the bill has recently been rejected by the Assembly.

Here’s the breakdown of how the voting went:

- Democratic Party of Japan - 53 votes NO
- Japanese Communist Party - 8 votes NO
- Tokyo Seikatsusha Network - 3 votes NO
- Liberal Democratic Party - 38 votes YES
- New Komeito Party - 23 votes YES

TOTAL: 64 votes NO, 61 votes YES

Although it was a close vote, the majority voted NO, citing that the bill was very unclear and that loopholes could easily be drawn from the bill. In addition, 1,421 manga creators, 10 publishing companies, the Japan Pen Club, the Japan Cartoonists Association and the Writers Guild of Japan voiced their opposition to the bill, saying that it imposed upon freedom of expression. The bill is expected to be revised and re-introduced in the September session.

I might be missing a point here, but how is restricting the sale of pornographic material to minors infringing upon the freedom of expression? I think publishers are more worried about losing income than about losing rights, no?

Source: AnimeNewsNetwork