Many young Japanese became legal adults overnight on April 1, when Japan lowered its minimum age to become a legal adult from 20 to 18, putting it to parity with many other nations to rejuvenate its aging workforce.
With some exciting freedom for the aged group, such as getting a phone contract themselves and getting their own apartment, there comes controversial freedom for 18 and 19-year-olds to be featured in adult videos.
The minimum age for consenting to sexual activities in Japan has been set at 13, making it one of the lowest around the globe; however, the country permits only those who are 18 or older to record porn. This is in line with the guidelines of The current standard worldwide to safeguard children from sexual abuse.
Before April, the teens between 18 and 20 had some rules for safeguarding their privacy, like how they required their parents’ approval for being in pornography, and they were able to reject the signed the contract any time they wanted and could even ask for their work to be deleted.
The nearly 2.4 million Japanese adults in this age bracket do not have the protection they once enjoyed as adults. However, some activists and government officials have expressed worries about the possibility of an increase in sexual exploitation among teenagers aged 18 and 19, some of who are still in high school. They have argued that younger Japanese might be forced into having sexual exploitation before cameras.
Before the Japanese Parliament last month, Representative Ayaka Shiomura asked her colleagues to help guard young people against abuse by the adult-oriented film industry. She was, however, the sole speaker in Japan’s predominantly male legislative body: the lawmakers she was with were a bit irritated at her proposal to introduce legislation to maintain the measures to protect those who are in their teens when they’re considered to be full-grown adults.
“Everyone should know that this is not an issue to be laughed about. This is a serious matter,” Shiomura said. Video footage of the exchange went popular on Japanese Twitter.
18歳でAV出演させられる事になるかもという瀬戸際の質疑で爆笑できる神経が理解不能
— 𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐋 (@emil418) March 28, 2022
(2022.3.28参院決算委員会/塩村あやか議員)#国会中継 pic.twitter.com/km20iDQjjX
Human rights organizations have also asked the government to keep granting those aged 18-19 the right to cancel their contract to appear in porn-themed films.
The week before the time that Japan increased the age of adulthood to 18, lawyers and other nonprofit leaders collected more than 40000 signatures that included porn stars for petitions urging the government to protect these safety measures.
However, some insiders in the industry say conserving the guardrails is useless since they don’t do anything in the first place.
Shiho Miyazaki, who joined the pornographic business in 2004 at the age of 18 years old, said that she was never required to give the signatures of her parents when she signed up with an adult management firm.
People who work within Japanese porn claim they have been much more regulated in recent years.
In the face of increasing pressure to tighten rules following the shocking report of abuses in 2016, porn producers have adopted a standard contract to improve the working conditions of porn actors, Suzuki, a porn talent manager in his 40s, said to VICE World News. He sought to use a false name as the family he is with doesn’t want to be aware of what he does professionally.
This agreement demands that producers reveal the amount an actor receives upfront. It also prohibits companies from suing actors for refusing to work.
“If producers don’t abide by these guidelines and standards, they won’t be able to get work. And at time’s end, it’s what porn is. It’s working,” he said.
Hana Kanno, a popular porn actress, has said that many production companies will not employ teenagers of a certain age due to the debate over it and the possibility of law enforcement.
Suzuki, who is the porn’s talent manager, has said that he’s not opposed to further regulation of the industry so that it helps the public be aware of what they’re committing themselves to.
Source: Vice News
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