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"We believe there is no problem with the software, which has cleared the domestic ratings of an ethics watchdog body."
A Japanese computer game in which players rape women and girls, make them pregnant and then force them to get abortions, has stirred international criticism among human rights groups and lawmakers overseas. New York-based international human rights organization Equality Now has demanded that the sale of the game, developed by a Yokohama-based firm in 2006, be banned in Japan and overseas. In the videogame, a player gropes two girls, who appear to be teenagers, and their mother while on a train, then rapes the three making them pregnant. The player then forces the three to terminate their pregnancies. Since earlier this year, the game has been discussed by overseas-based human rights organizations. In Britain, lawmakers learned that the game could be purchased on the Amazon online shopping site and proposed a motion in Parliament in February expressing their opposition to domestic distribution of the game. Following this move--widely reported in the British media and other countries--Britain-based Amazon.co.uk halted the sale of the game later that month, with a similar decision made by the Amazon headquarters in the United States soon after. In Japan, however, regulation of child pornography is lax, so the game is still available via online shopping sites, despite Amazon Japan recently halting sales.
In early May, Equality Now released a statement saying that in Japan the games industry profits from games featuring violence against girls and women. It also criticized the growing market for pornography found in Japan known as "roricon," or "Lolita complex," which has a child pornography theme. In the statement, the human rights organization also criticizes the government, saying it should take measures to ban the distribution of such games. On Wednesday, Equality Now began asking its 30,000 members in 160 countries to send letters of protest to those who make and sell computer games that feature violation of women, such as rape and confinement. It called for letters of protest to be sent to the Yokohama-based games maker; companies that stock such games for sale; Prime Minister Taro Aso and other senior government officials. Japan-based human rights groups also have started lobbying the industry to make changes. Under domestic law, salacious images of children aged less than 18 are considered child pornography, and production and sale of such images is banned. However, possession of child pornography by individuals--including images downloaded on computers--is not considered illegal in the country. The production and sale of animated and computer-generated pornographic images are not regulated under the law. International groups have called for the possession of child pornography to be made illegal in Japan.
An official of the Yokohama maker in question told The Yomiuri Shimbun: "We were given official approval for domestic sale of this game by the institution the industry established for voluntary screening [of games]...We weren't aware of the protest by the overseas human rights organization, so I can't comment on the issue," the official said. Hiroshi Nakasatomi, a gender studies researcher and associate professor of Fukushima University, said: "Japan is known as a leading producer of game software and animation featuring sexual abuse of women. "The genre is called hentai [pervert] overseas, and human rights groups abroad have long been critical [of this type of product]."
Internet sales of a Japanese computer game have been stopped after the software, which features the raping of three females, including young girls, stirred international criticism among human right groups, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. New York-based international human rights organization Equality Now was the first to start protesting over the sale of the computer game, which was developed by a Yokohama-based software maker and first sold in 2006. Online sales and distribution of the game were stopped Friday after the protest campaign against the game started on May 6. An official of the Yokohama software company said, "At this stage, we're unable to comment about the future marketing of the game or other matters relating to it."
Japan's Ethics Organization of Computer Software (EOCS) -- an industry organization that oversees PC game ratings in the country, and comprised of over 200 software companies -- is forbidding the retail sale and production of games created by its members that simulate forced sex, such as Illusion Soft's controversial RapeLay. The committee's decision was spurred by a recent campaign from woman's rights group Equality Now demanding that Illusion Soft and the Japanese government prohibit the sale of games involving "rape, stalking or other forms of sexual violence or which otherwise denigrate women," according to a report from Tokyo Broadcasting System News translated by the Canned Dogs weblog...more...
Ketou wrote:Why is it that almost all change here is a result of outside force?.......
Mulboyne wrote:Gamasutra: Japanese Organization To Ban Sale of Rape Games
Kotaku.com wrote:Minori, developer of adult PC titles like Bittersweet Fools and Angel Type, is digging in to protect itself from an onslaught of viewers outside Japan.
Those trying to access the Minori site outside Japan will be greeted with the following message:
Midwinter wrote:Interesting to note also, that rape as an act of male entertainment is apparently now a part of Japanese culture.
Midwinter wrote:Interesting to note also, that rape as an act of male entertainment is apparently now a part of Japanese culture.
BO-SENSEI wrote:They don't say. I am so glad that they are fighting the rest the world to preserve such a unique part of Japanese culture.
akira117 wrote:Killing people in a video game vs rape.....yea RAPE GAME HAS CROSSED THE LINE ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
If rape were used in war, I guess it's ok since war is cool. Oh, wait..Samurai_Jerk wrote:.. What do the rest of you think? Is there a difference and if so, why?
GuyJean wrote:If rape were used in war, I guess it's ok since war is cool. Oh, wait..
We're ultimately responsible for our actions, and the programming we choose to help create those actions.. But don't expect most humans to admit it. Or lawyers of a software company.
GJ
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