Over the past several months, a debate over a website hosting free (pirated) manga (Japanese comic) content, Mangamura (“Manga Village”) and similar sites. This debate moved from verbal arguments to pressures to close down the entire website, and after a governmental comment that blocking pirated content sites was permissible in some cases on April 13, a sharp exchange has spread on whether this is constitutional, proper, beneficial to culture and business, and so forth.
For example, Shinji Terada nuances the discussion by noting that this question of balancing freedom with legality is not limited to Japan; other countries’ stances on what may be blocked online vary. Japanese policy has tended in favor of freedom of expression for websites owners and managers, allowing them to make available material even if it is illegal. This was illustrated by the three years debate took before sites displaying child pornography were deemed removable. Yet overseas, such questionable material is frequently deemed blockable. Japan’s stance is relatively rare.
Meanwhile, Ichiro Yamamoto argues that this debate reflects poorly not so much on the copyright infringers as on the Japanese government and manga industry for their sluggish approaches to address issues of digitalization and readers’ wishes for digital content. He argues that the national “promotion” and “displays” of Japanese manga and other arts has been trivial appearances at international events, without a substantial support infrastructure for the writers whose work is touted so sporadically. Both readers and writers have been ignored by the government, he feels, even if piracy should be pushed back.
Presumably, this debate will continue and hopefully sharpen thinking on IP, privacy, and freedom of speech on the Web. Meanwhile, for intellectual property issues, this highlights on the one hand how Japanese policy making in IP law and regulations is slow to adapt in some ways. On the other hand, international investors and artists may be able to find opportunities to spread their cultural contributions to Japan via the Internet in ways that are stalled domestically for the time being.
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Taro Yaguchi
Sources
Terada, Shinji, “漫画村は日本だけの問題ではない、世界を覆うブロッキングとデータ保護主義 [Mangamura is not Japan’s problem alone; blocking and data protectionism overshadowing the world],” Nikkei X Tech, May 7, 2018.
Okabe, Utakazu, “著作権侵害サイトのアクセス遮断を政府容認、「緊急避難」適用 [Government recognizes blocking of access to copyright-infringing websites, applying as an emergency measure],” Nikkei X Tech, April 13, 2018.
Yamamoto, Ichiro, “出版業界は”子供はまんが無料”を検討せよ 海賊版への対抗に「遮断」は無理筋 [The publishing industry should consider letting children read manga for free; blocking as a means of resisting piracy is unwise],” President Online, May 2, 2018; linked page and those following.
