Ask John: Is Hentai Available to Children in Japan?

Question:
Is hentai everywhere in Japan? Are little kids allowed to get their hands on it?

Answer:
One thing that many American anime fans, especially those with vehement “no hentai” or “anti-hentai” stances, seem to misunderstand or not realize, is the fact that adult anime is as much a legitimate form of anime as any other genre or style. Well known anime directors including Toshihiro Hirano (Vampire Miyu, Iczer-One), Yuji Moriyama (Project A-ko, Geobreeders), Masami Obari (Fatal Fury, Bubblegum Crisis), and Masaki Kajishima (Tenchi Muyo, El Hazard) have all created hentai anime. The very fact that adult anime exists is one of the distinguishing characteristics of anime itself. The fact that so much adult anime exists proves that Japanese animation is not “just cartoons for kids.” It’s clearly considered a viable cinematic art form that can appeal as much to adults as children. Of course, children’s animation and adult animation represent the extreme ends of the spectrum that anime covers. As most of us are aware, the vast majority of anime stylistically falls into the average category between these two extremes.

As a non-Christian country, Japan largely does not have the same degree of moral and religious intolerance associated with sex that pervades Western culture. Christian influenced Western society largely considers sex appropriate only for monogamous, heterosexual married couples. Asian cultures, which are more accepting of sex as a natural, physical process apart from social relationships, are generally more accepting of casual sex, pre-marital sex, prostitution, depictions of sex in public and mixed company, and styles of sex generally frowned upon by Western society. Seen as a simple natural process, sex, nudity and erotica entail much less shame and greater public acceptance in Japan than in the west. This acceptance extends to anime, where adult anime is kept from minors, but isn’t “protected” or hidden from minors. Adult anime in Japan is clearly labeled as available to only adults aged 18 and over, and adult manga are stocked in their own section in Japanese bookstores, but often times adult anime and manga are not cloistered away in back rooms or separated from other types of merchandise. It’s not uncommon for adult anime DVDs to be shelved mere feet from “legitimate” anime DVDs, or adult manga displayed on shelves right next to manga for all age readers. While especially American culture believes it necessary to hide depictions of nudity and sex from children and potentially impressionable viewers, Japanese culture relies on a culturally entrenched sense of honor and individual responsibility. In the same way that cigarettes and alcohol are available from vending machines accessible to children, adult material is also accessible to children in Japan. But the cultural sense of moral obligation and the traditional Japanese “honor system” prevent children from buying adult material because they know doing so isn’t “right.” Adult anime is easily available to “little kids” in Japan, but these little kids don’t buy it or look at it because they know they’re not supposed to. This honor system may seem unbelievable and foreign to Americans because it is foreign. The fact that children in Japan do have easy access to pornography, alcohol and tobacco products but choose not to buy them is one of contemporary Japan’s most distinguishing cultural differences from much of Western society.