Candidates for upcoming election in Japan want to legalize uncensored porn, campaign for sex worker rights
Elections bring out the eccentrics, with plenty of novelty candidates reliably popping up to keep us amused. Past examples include the wannabe politician who wore government-supplied face masks as a bra or the regular appearances of Teruki Goto — including once nude on his campaign poster.
With the recent passing of the controversial new law regulating the porn industry, how are candidates responding to the current situation?
We found two intriguing examples among candidates for the upcoming Upper House election.
Riyo Takahashi, the 48-year-old founder of the Japanese video hosting site FC2, is running on the ticket of the NHK Party, whose primarily objective is to battle the national broadcaster and its fees that citizens are obliged to pay. Takahashi, however, has his sights set on other targets: instead of the usual “crush NHK” slogan associated with the party’s candidates, he says he wants to “crush mosaic censorship.” In other words, Takahashi’s manifesto is legalizing uncensored porn in Japan.
FC2 is best known for hosting porn video, which has led to legal troubles for both the site and uploaders. Takahashi actually lives abroad and is apparently on an international wanted list, meaning he cannot return to Japan to campaign in person. FC2 would no doubt benefit a lot if porn was no longer censored in Japan. Takahashi is also openly opposed to the new adult video law, possibly making him unique among candidates for the upcoming election.
Another prospective lawmaker is Yukiko Kaname, who is running as a Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan candidate. Her platform is equality for sex workers, which is something that has gained more public attention in Japan recently due to a law case over subsidy discrimination during the pandemic and a protest that received much press coverage.
Kaname is a representative of two organizations that support sex workers. Her election promises include fighting to stop a proposed law banning prostitution (currently, the law prohibits profiting from prostitution but not sex work itself). She also wants to make stronger laws against video and photos taken without consent at hotels and homes. In addition, she wants privacy for sex workers if they are the victim of a crime, since being named in the media can lead to problems in their lives.
Moreover, she wants better protection for sex workers by relaxing restrictions on brothel renovations in the fuzoku law to ensure that establishments are safer. Kaname is referring her to how brothels are often housed in cramped, old buildings that are fire hazards. They require police approval before they can be renovated to make them safer, which encourages landlords and managers to cut corners.
5 Comments
Riyo Takahashi doesn’t care about people.
He just wants to get off the international wanted list, parliamentary immunity and easy money.
at the expense of naive would-be voters.
Yukiko Kaname although some of her proposals are fine in theory.
However, you have to be careful because it can be a Trojan horse with radical feminists. 21st century feminists only want benefits and not responsibilities.
Its about time that as a society we quit lying about sex and start to deal with it like adults. All of the BS and virtue signaling is causing far more harm than good.
So how did these candidates do?
@Mike Travels
They both lost. Probably just as well for Takahashi, since he would probably be arrested if he returned to Japan to take up his seat in the Diet.
Even Aggretsuko ran for a seat in the Diet. She’s not famous for being a porn star though (not yet anyway)