why Japanese censorship?

[Michael Hirohama]

According to Kanemitsu, censorship is an artifact of Article 175 of the
Penal Code enacted the 1890s, which was not repealed during the post-war
occupation's constitutional rewrite.  The 1889 constitution was based on
German and British models. [1]  Why did the Japanese use these foreign
standards as ideals?  In "Processes of Westernisation[sic]", chapter 4 of
his book, Kitahara argues that the psychological defense mechanisms of
rationalization and identification with the aggressor eased the transition
toward modernization and Western technology and values. [2]

Why is the exposure of (female) genitals in the media so taboo when
co-sleeping and co-bathing have been commonplace till very recently?  Adams
and Hill suggest that the ambivalence of males toward their Japanese
mothers leads to castration anxiety. [3]  Thus, the average Japanese male
(at a deep psychic level) may believe it is better to be uncertain about
the presence or absence of the female penis than to know (see) that yet
another female has no phallus (is castrated).


[1] Dan Kanemitsu, _Censorship. Why?_ on "Hentai Mangas and Anime", 1997,
http://www.france-cybermedia.com/hma/infos_gb.htm

[2] Michio Kitahara, _Children of the Sun: The Japanese and the Outside
World_, New York: St. Martins Press, 1989.

[3] Kenneth Alan Adams & Lester Hill, Jr., "The Phallic Female in Japanese
Group-Fantasy", _Journal of Psychohistory_, 25(1997):33-66.

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