Child pornography laws in Japan

Child pornography laws in Japan prohibit and outlaw child pornography. The production, sale, distribution, and commercialization of child pornography is illegal under Article 7 of the Act on Punishment of Activities Relating to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and the Protection of Children and is punishable by a maximum penalty of five years in prison and/or a fine of ¥5,000,000. Possession of child pornography with any intent of distribution and sale is also illegal.

Manga artists and anime directors have argued that it is dangerous to try to define child pornography when it comes to artwork, drawings, and animation when regarding hentai due to it being highly ambiguous, and have cited freedom of expression to prevent it from being abused. For example, they argued that even in the anime and manga series Doraemon, the scene of the schoolgirl Shizuka Minamoto taking a bath might be mis-construed as "child pornography". Arts depicting underage characters (lolicon and shotacon) and photography of underage models (junior idol) remain controversial in Japan.

The Act on Punishment of Activities Relating to Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and the Protection of Children came into effect on May 26, 1999. Under Article 7, it outlawed the production, transport, import and export of child pornography, as well as possession of child pornography for the aforementioned purposes.

Previously, obscenity was regulated by the 1907 Penal Code of Japan. Article 175 of the code has been applied to underage obscenity, notably in a 1993 case where a burusera shop owner was arrested on suspicion of possession for sale of obscene media, after he had invited a high school student to appear in a pornographic video.

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