History repeats?

[Aaron Gerow]

In what sounds like a curious repetition of the Nikkatsu Roman Porno 
censorship case, in which inspectors for Eirin, the film ratings board 
in Japan, were indicted in the early 1970s along with Nikkatsu 
filmmakers for violating censorship laws, the Asahi and other papers 
reported that Tokyo police have raided the offices of Biderin (Nihon 
Bideo Rinri Kyokai), the video industry's self-censorship arm, for 
aiding in the distribution of obscene materials by relaxing guidelines 
for applying mosaic to sex scenes in videos.

We'll see what happens, especially with regard to the police tactic of 
arresting the censor for not censoring enough. But since AV doesn't 
have the critical and intellectual support Roman Porno does, I doubt we 
will see the uproar there was in the 1970s.

Aaron Gerow
KineJapan owner

Assistant Professor
Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures
Yale University

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