Protecting Youth and Regulating Speech, Battle Royale

[Aaron Gerow]

Udo commented:

>Other violence-related problems with Eirin occured with Iwai Shunji`s 
>"Swallowtail Butterfly" (stricter rating for juvenile delinquency)

If I remember correctly, the problem was less the violence in the film, 
than the fact minors were shown committing the crime of counterfeiting or 
defacing currency.

>It is 
>regrettable though that the introduction of a new age limit (PG12) in 1998 
>and other attempts at reform have helped Eirin little to retreat from 
>monitoring film contents and administer age classification instead.

A very important point.  One thing people must remember about Eirin is 
that it is not simply a post-production regulator.  From the beginning, 
Eirin inspected scripts before production and apparently still does for 
some major films (though I don't know how many films this amounts to).  
Eirin will never be just a ratings board if it continues to preview 
scripts.  But that would involve it changing its entire constitution.

Aaron Gerow
Associate Professor
International Student Center
Yokohama National University
79-1 Tokiwadai
Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama 240-8501
JAPAN
E-mail: gerow at ynu.ac.jp
Phone: 81-45-339-3170
Fax: 81-45-339-3171