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'The Lolicon Guy:' Some Observations on Researching Unpopular

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'The Lolicon Guy:' Some Observations on Researching Unpopular 108 Sharalyn Orbaugh 16 In English, Akiko Mizoguchi (2003) is one person who has written eloquently about how reading BL manga helped her explore and understand her sexuality in 6 "The lolicon guy" her youth. It is signiFicant that the manga she consumed For this purpose Featured only male bodies, and romances between males, suggesting how complicated and unintuitive is the relationship between Fantasy and real identities and behavior. Some observations on researching unpopular topics in Japan ReFerences Alverson, Brigid (2012) "Canadian Court Drops Criminal Charges in Manga Customs Patrick W Galbraith Case," www.comicbookresQurces.com/?page=article&id=37552 (accessed December 16,2015) Benedet, Janine (2002) "Children in Pornography aFter Sharpe," Les Cahiers de Droit, June, 43(2): 327-350. Canada Border Services Agency (n.d.) "What We Do," www.cbsa-asFc.gc.ca/agency-a Introduction gcnce/what-quoi-eng.htmj (accessed December 14,2015). Cossman, Brenda (2013) "Canada's Child Pornography Law Has Been Rightly Criti- Since the early 2000s, Japan has pursued a range oF policy initiatives under cized For Years," www.law.utoronto.ca/news!proF-brend-cossman-canadas-child-p the banner oF "cool Japan." These policy initiatives are based on the idea that ornography-law-has-rightly-been-criticized_years (accessed December 12, 2015). certain Forms oF Japanese media and popular culture are perceived overseas Hudson, Laura (201I) "Why Comics Get ConFiscated at the Canadian Border (and How to be cool, which represents not only the attractive possibility oF expanding to Protect Yours)," comicsaIJiance.com/comic-books-canada-customsl (accessed global markets, but also winning the hearts and minds oF young people December 12, 2015). around the world and encouraging them to become "Japan Fans" (Sugimoto Little Sisters (n.d.) "Lillie Sisters Book and Art Emporium/Censorship/supreme 2013)1 From the beginning, cool Japan policy has made much oF Ihe sup- Court or Canada," blog, littIesister&calblogiabout!supreme-court!(accessed January20, posed populari ty oF manga and anime in "the West," which seems somehow 2016). to legitimate the nation and demonstrate that proclamations oF its decline McLelland, Mark(2016) '''Not in Front or the Parents" Young People, Sexual Lit- are premature (Leheny 2006: 214-216, 220-223; Choo 2011: 85, 87-88). eracies and Intimate Citizenship in the Internet Age" Sexualities doi: 10.1177/ 136346071664579. ' Although cool Japan policy has drawn more vocal critics in recent years (see Mihara 2014 For an overview), public Funds are still being allocated to pro- MizoguchiAkiko(2003)"MIMIR, ae-ae omance by and For Women In .Japan: AHis- mote manga and anime, among other things perceived to contribute to a tory oF the Subgenre oF YAOI Fictions," US-Japan Women's Journal English Supplement, 25: 49-75. positive image oF Japan (Nikkei 2015). Public diplomacy and nation branding Nagaike,. Kazumi . (J012) -F. anaSlesOJt . '[Cross-dressi ross-dressing, Japanese Women Write .MIMalea e- are in no way unique to Japan, but its government has drawn attention For Erotica, Leiden: Brill. being openly invested in national(izing) popular culture, Napier, Susan (2005) Anime; From Akira to Howl's Moving Castle: Experiencing Given this, it is signiFicant that the global spread oF manga and anime has C01lfemporary Japa A' . nese 111111allon.New York: Palgrave Macmillan. generated not only stories about "cool Japan," but also simultaneously Ne~V1/nan,Jacquella, and Linda A. White (2006) Women Politics and Public Policy: rekindled Familiar stories about "weird Japan" as a sexually deviant "other." ',JePolir /S· I· ". lea tlllgg es of Canadian Women. Don Mills ON: OxFord University Press. This distinct but connected national(izing) discourse oF popular culture came Or b augh, Sharalyn (2009) "G' I" . "in T; k ir s Reading Harry Potter Girls Writing DeslFe, to the Fore in the summer oF 2014, when Japan banned the possession oF child omo 0 Aoyama and Ba b HI' N York' Rid r ara art ey, eds Girl Reading Girl in Japan. ew . outege,pp.174-186. ' pornography, but did not include in its deFinition oF child pornography Statistics Canada (2011) "Immi . Canada," manga, anime and games sexualizing characters that appear to be underage wv..'W12t t rmgrauon and Ethnocultural Diversity In Ordepicting them engaged in sex acts. The decision sparked widespread cri- D .s a can.gc.ca/nhs-enm/20Il/as-sa/99-01O-x/99-0I0-x20 I100I-eng.crm (accessed ecember 15,2015). tIcIsm outside Japan oF its perceived Failure to crack down on chIld. porno- Supreme Court or C d m/ graphy - criticism that conFtated actual and virtual Forms, ignonng the scc-c / /. ana a, R. v. Sharpe (n.d.) OFFicial record, scc_csc.lexurn.co sc sec-escen"tem/l8371' d presence or absence oF victim and crime (McLelland 2005: 63-64; McLelland Welker,James (2011 "F In ex.do (accessed December 15,2015). ale Con . ) lowerTribes and Female Desire' Complicating Early Fem :011: 351-354, 360-361,363). For example, one article condemning Japan as Wood sAumdPtlon(200rMale Homosexuality in Shojo Mang~ " Mectiademia 6: 211-228. the Empire oF Child Pornography" (Adelstein and Kubo 2014) IS Illustrated ,nrea 13)"BoL' ' Clturc- Transnational F d YS ove ~01me and Queer Desires in Convergence U d Wttha photograph oF a Japanese man looking to purchase media emblazoned Comics 4(1): ~3.0m, CensorshIp and Resistance," Journal of Graphic Novels all wah manga/anime-style girl characters, who appear to be young. In articles --= I 10 Patrick W. Galbraith "The lalicon guy" III scrutiny of manga, anime and fans in Japan (Cather 2012: 243-247; Gal- such as this one, Japanese manga and anime and men attracted to them are braith, forthcoming a), If lolicon is Japan's "skeleton in the closet" (Alt positioned as sexually suspect. In the photograph described above, we do not 2014a), if the specter of weird Japan haunts cool Japan and threatens to pos- know the content of the offending media or the thoughts of the man looking sess it, then we can expect the government to bury the skeleton, exorcise the to purchase them, but assume from the framing that the media are child specter and attempt to shift the national(izing) discourse from critical to cel- pornography and the man is a pedophile and potential predator. Japan seems ebratory, In this way, the discussion of Japanese media and popular culture - to be full of such media and men, which begs the question: "Why is there by critics and fans, journalists and academics, bureaucrats and citizens - is such a fascination with sexual interaction with young girls - known as rorikon always already political, and this is even more the case when the discussion is (Lolita complex) in Japan" (Adelstein and Kubo 2014)? about lolicon. The alleged, sexual fascination with young girls revealed in manga and This chapter provides some observations on researching unpopular topics arurne and attnbuted to Japan as a nation is referred to as rorikon, or lolicon, in the politicized space of Japan, It is a polemic, which means a contentious as it is more widely transcribed.' Lolicon has long been a part of national argument against a position, in this case that certain forms of manga and (izing) discourses of Japanese media and popular culture, but manga and anime are child pornography and that the presence of such media makes amme are particularly prone to be taken up as examples, It is not a problem Japan the Empire of Child Pornography, The position against which I argue to cnucize manga and anime, which are not to everyone's tastes and can not only makes Japanese media and men sexually suspect, but also criminal. repulse as powerfully as they attract, but it is a problem when critics move The position discourages debate, because no one wants to be seen as defend- from personal repulsion to calls for regulation, It is a problem when critics ing child pornography and abusers, Raising questions about categorizing equate attraction to manga and anime with perversion and pathology (Rogers manga and anime as child pornography is met with thinly veiled accusations 2010), and hnk the consumption of such media with horrific crimes against of personal "interest" in the topic of lolicon. children - or, as one reporter ominously put it, "cartoons may be fueling the In my ongoing ethnographic fieldwork in Akihabara, I have found the dis- darkest desires of criminals" (Ripley et al. 2014), Although the jury is still out cussion of lolicon to be unavoidable, Although only a small part of my work, on the SOCialImpact of manga and anime _ "It has not been scientifically I have come to be labeled as "the lolicon guy," which is not without con- validated that it even indirectly causes damage" (Adelstein and Kubo 2014)- sequences, Most people choose to remain silent on the topic of lolicon to many nevertheless feel justified to judge people guilty of imaginary crimes avoid the kind of guilt by association entailed in the label of lolicon guy, bUI (McLelland 2012: 479), In this way, lolicon has become a keyword in global il does not end there, In this chapter, I provide the example of a publisher cntrcism of "Japan's child porn problem" (Adelstein and Kubo 2014)3 cutting an interview and drawings related to lolicon from one of my books Despite mounting concern about the sexualization of young girl characters for fear of sparking "a moral firestorm" in the United States, The publisher's m manga andanime' coo IJ apan policy ' continues to push for the creatIOn,a f fear is understandable in context. Rather than risk the potential con- Japanfanswhichisnot Id '" , d , unre ate toacademic mterest 111 Japanese media an sequences, it is safer simply not to talk about lolicon.
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