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. By remaining silent, popular culture As K ' hi I b ' , h e' OIC wa uchi pointedly notes uncritical researe on however, we are complicit in the judgment of the unknown/other. The inabil- and b y rans ofJapa d' " I' , di nese me ia and popular culture contributes to nanona IS- ity to look at images and listen to people involved has led to ignorance on the uc iscourse about J ' I ' thi ' apans g obal influence (iwabuchi 2010: 89), We can see topic of lolicon and judgment of it based on ignorance, The chapter argues s in remarks by A- T-, , , , so aro, a conservative politician and former pnme that it is politically necessary to include unpopular lopics such as lolicon 111 the rruruster of Japan wh if ' 0 ponti cated that "Thanks to fans Japanese culture, study of Japanese media and popular culture, If we are to intervene in sub cutureI ISund b dl" " hi hinc ou te y being transmitted to the world [ J Isn t t IS national(izing) discourses that uncritically denounce or admire Japanese media somet mgthat h Id '" l' When A - id we s ou take more pride in" (Galbraith forthcoming a), and popular culture, we must engage with material that is unpopular and may have k so sahi those words at a rally in Akihabara in 2007, he could not make us so, Only in this way can we go beyond fixed and polanzed posiuons nown t at years later i I' , e disI ' h er journa ists would use images of manga and arurn to the more nuanced cultural politics of difficult topics such as lolicon, pays mI atverysa ' hb ' p me neig orhood as proof that Japan was "the Empire of Child I ornograph" (Ad I' If he h d k Y e stem and Kubo 2014' Ripley et al. 2014), a nown,wouldA-'I ' , irh The lolicon boom Akihaba ?,,, I so sti I have wanted to be associated publicly WI ra. wou d he still h b culture" be' ., I ave been proud of the "Japanese culture, SU- Lolicon, now described as a "four-letter word" (Alt 2014a), has historically mg transmitted t th' , I'(cal party in rece toe world? Or, like other members of his poII, been a keyword for researchers of manga, anime and fan cultures in Japan, n years would A - ' I ton of lolicon m di ? T'h so rnstead have called lor increased regu a I, Beginning in the I970s, when shojo (for girls) manga was undergomg a e la, ere are c1' , 5t 10 manga and ' ear connections between global mtere renaissance, men were attracted to this content and crossed genderlgenre amme governme t', , sed , n mvestment lJ1 cool Japan policy, and Increa "The lolicon guy" 113 112 Patrick W. Galbraith boundaries to produce and consume it (Galbraith, forthcoming b). The first Cybele was released, Miyazaki Hayao's Lupin Iff: The Castle of Cagliostro appearance of the word lolicon in manga was Wada Shinji's Stumbling Upon (Rupan sansei: Kariosutoro no shiro) sparked a subgenre offanzines about its a Cabbage Field (Kyabetsu batake de tsumazuite), published in shbjo manga young heroine: "Clarisse magazines" (Takatsuki 2010: 97-102). This led to Future magazine Bessatsu Margaret in June] 974. In a story that parodies Alice's the belated discovery of the character Lana from Miyazaki's TV anime Boy Conan Adventures in Wonderland, Wada calls Lewis Carroll a lolicon with a foot- (Mirai shonen Konan, ]978). Finally, Oshii Mamoru's TV anirne note explaining his "strange character of liking only small children." It is adaptation of Invader Lum (Urusei yatsura, 1981-86), a bawdy romantic comedy featuring a buxom alien babe in a tigerskin bikini based on the beloved shocking that Wada, an adult male artist, would include such a footnote ina manga (1978-87) by Takahashi Rumiko, spurred manga/anime-style char- manga magazine ostensibly targeting young girls, but this was likely an inside acter attraction to new heights. The moment was christened by the founda- Joke for adult men reading his work, which points to the broader phenom- tion of Lemon People (Remon pipuru, 1982-98), a commercial manga enon of male readers of shojo manga. The founders of the Comic Market,' magazine that boldly claimed on its cover to feature "lolicon comics." themselves adult male readers of shojo manga, advertised their event in Bes- Inspired by Yonezawa Yoshihiro, one of the founders of the Comic Market, satsu Shojo Comic (Shimotsuki 2008: ]I), a shojo manga magazine that was anime magazines that had originally focused on sci-fi fare such as Space likely read by men with shared interests. Although the existence of these men Battleship Yamato (Uchu senkan Yamato, ]974-75) and Mobile Suit Gundatn ~~a:gon~ largely without comment, they are an important part of the story of (Kido senshi Gandamu, 1979-80) began to talk about the "the lolicon o aku, here referring to certain kmds of manga and anime fans, in Japan. boom." For example, FUJIta Hisashi argues that male fans ofshojo manga "sought friends The lolicon boom is an important chapter in the history of manga, anime who shared their interests and became the early 'otaku'" (Fujita 1989: 130). and fan cultures in Japan. In fact, it is hard to speak with any specificity Also 111 the 1970s, men who had grown up with manga and anime began to without addressing the moment and its influence. The first pornographic ani- be attracted to "cue te" an d"" cartoony characters, or manga/aOlme·stye.I mation produced in Japan was the Lolita Anime series (1984-85) by Wonder characters, as opposed to those drawn in the more "realistic" and "adult" Kids, which was based on work published in Lemon People. Lolita Anime was style of gekiga. Among these men was Azuma Hideo who is considered a pioneer of bi I _. ( . ' quickly followed by another Lolita Anime series (1984-85), this time by Nik- .IS 10JO cute girl) manga. Azuma exposed and explored the sexu- katsu and based on the work of Uchiyama Aki, the so-called "king of loli- ahty of cute and cartoony characters, which had long existed in the founda- con." At this point, erotic or pornographic works in the manga/anime style, ~:onal ',;'anga ~nd anime of Tezuka Osamu and his followers, but had been' which is to say those featuring cute and cartoony girl characters, were all taboo and unspeakable thi mg.,,6 A zuma was not alone in his ..t mteres s. associated with the term lolicon. To put it another way, lolicon was not G-.Male fans of manga ad' n arume began to gather at places such as Manga necessarily about attraction to young girl characters, let alone real children, 18~~i8; cafe that had anime eels and famines on display (Morikawa 2011: but rather attraction to cute, cartoony, manga/anime-style characters. This is ), where they spoke about attraction to cute and cartoony girl char- clear in the origin a] debate about "otaku," which appeared in the pages of acters such as Pipi from Tomino Yoshiyuki's Triton of the Sea (Umi no Tor- bishojn comic magazine Mango Burikko in 1983 and focused on a cnuque of Iton'hl?72) and Clara from Takahata Isao's Heidi Girl of the Alps (ArupUSu manga and anime fans attracted to fictional girl characters mstead of real no s ojo HalJI 1974) 7 MG '. .1 h .' . anga aro regulars drew manga/anime-style glr women (see Galbraith 2015 for an overview). In this debate, lolicon was a c aracters III a communal t bk . . I noe 00 , which raised awareness of shared inter- keyword. ~~t~'I'\~~S ~ere that Hirukogami Ken wrote, "I am a lolicon" (Morikawa ~ ." nukogami's Alice (Arisu, 1978) is remembered as the first loli- ~.~ anzme, but It would not be the last. Oki Yukao an assistant to Azum' Brief review of research on lolicon Ieo,recruited Azuma H· k' ..'.. ~r together d ' lru ogaml and N,shll1a So'lch, and the ou Given its importance, it is not surprising that lolicon has been well researched recalls "Ipro uceddthe legendary fanzine Cybele (Shiberu, 1979). As Azum' in Japan over the course of decades which has led to numerous mSlghts. ]n , wante fnends] th h h ho likethis s t f h· . oug tt at there absolutely must be others w the literature, we find that lolicon refers to "desire for two-dimensional images ing intere~~s ~t t~~~ s~mew~ere" (Azuma and Yamamoto 20 II: 141). Shar- (manga, anime) rather than realistic things" (Akagl 1993: 230). Such an l11e Cybeie at th C . g Garo led to sharing interests through the fanz orientation comes from growing up with manga and anime and becommg shojo manga ~ ~mlc Market, which was itself established by male fans of attracted to manga/anime-style, cute, cartoony characters (Nagayama 20]4: Although t~O 109 to share interests and make friends. 83-87; Saito 20II: 30-31 87-89). Characters are not compensatmg for subsequent issu: contel]nt of Cybele shocked many (Takekuma 2003: 107), something more "real," bu; rather are in their fiction the object of affectIOn s swe e d 111 popul·t .hh ... t'on to manga/anime t I I an yWit t e rJsmg lide of a!trac I (Akagi 1993: 230-231', Schodt 1996: 48; Shigematsu 1999: 131-132). ThiS has -syec1aracters. I n 1979 ,t1esame I year that the hrst . ISSU. eof 114 Patrick W Galbraith "The lolicon guy" 115

been described as "finding sexual objects in fiction in itself" (Saito 2011: 16), characters. At present, such characters are more popular than realistic var- which in discussions of lolicon is made explicitly distinct from desire for and iants in erotic and pornographic manga, anime and games in Japan. Not only abuse of children (Saito 2011: 6-7, 30-31). \n the 1990s, when the Japanese isthe lolicon boom an important chapter in the history of manga, anime and media linked a child molester and murderer to lolicon, the im age of otaku as fan cultures in Japan that contributed to the development of present-day a "reserve army of criminals" confused about the difference between fiction forms, but a discussion of lolicon also opens a window on to sexual politics in and reality took hold in Japan. Note that the conflation of lolicon with desire media consumer society. With this in mind, in 2009, as part of a book project, for actual children obscures the possibility of an orientation of desire toward I began to interview artists, critics and people involved with the lolicon boom. fiction as such. It is not a coincidence that even as lolicon became a "four- Among them was Uchiyama Aki, remembered as the "number one bestseller letter word" (Alt 2014a) it was replaced by moe, which refers to the same of lolicon manga" in Japan in the early 1980s. Uchiyama is in m any ways a attraction to and affection for fictional characters consciously separate from symbol of the lolicon boom: he published in not only Lemon People, but also reality. From early writings to the present, researchers suggest that lolicon the mainstream manga magazine Shonen Champion; he produced 160 pages artists are playing with symbols and working with tropes, which does not of manga a month to meet demand; his work is the basis of the Lolita Anitne reflect or contribute to sexual pathology or crime (Tsuchim oto 1989: 110; series by Nikkatsu. However, when the lolicon boom ended around 1984, Nagayama 2014: 129-130). Uchiyama disappeared from the public eye' Given his prominence in the lolicon boom, I planned to include the inter- The debate about "harmful manga" in Japan in the 1990s concluded that view with Uchiyama alongside some of his drawings in my book, which had manga, whatever the content of the drawings may be, does not harm anyone evolved into an exploration of attraction to and affection for fictional char- III Its production and does not cause demonstrable harm to others in its dis- acters in Japan. Although it was for a commercial press and targeting a gen- tribution and consumption (Schodt 1996: 49-53). On the contrary, the litera- eral audience of English speakers, I did not see an issue in including ture on lolicon suggests that it might be good for some people. Such manga Uchiyama. The book passed all the usual rounds of internal review without and arnme speak to a deep discomfort with hegemonic social and sexual roles any complications. In the final stages, my editor sent a PDF of the book to (Editors 1989:.2-3; Akagi 1993: 233-234; Kinsella 2000: 124). Fiction can manga and anime translators, critics and scholars, in hopes of getting endor- open up Imagmative dimensions of sex and allow people to work through sements for the back cover. As my editor went through this process, she them (Shigematsu 1999: 146-148' Saito 2011' 24-26 30-31 117 126 156-158, 162'Naa ,." ,, received some comments from a reviewer that disturbed her greatly. She · .' g yarna 2014: 148-150, 197-198). It was on these grounds that fern- explained to me in a panicked email:9 mists, lawyers and artists with no personal interest in lolicon nevertheless defended the freedom to produce and consume it in debates about "obscene" We would like to make some last minute changes to the book. and"un h ea lthv" y manga and anime in the 2000s (Cather 2012: 233" McLe!- The impetus for this was a comment by ****. I sent him a PDF of the ~and 2011: 355-356, 358-359, 361). It was precisely because of ;his long book asking him for an endorsement and he gave us a nice one (which I Istory of debating the connection and distinction between fiction and reality will place on the cover and run by you before printing), but he also had th at Japan decided in 2014 th t· f h . a manga andamme whatever thecontent 0 t e drawmgsmaybesh Id b .' . k this to say: · . .' ou not ecategorized aschild pornography which too mternauonal Journalist b . ' "I read through the book, and I'm sure that it will do well, although \ . s ysurpnse. While it appears that Japan has come to th econclUSIOnthat a tid . h do hope that it doesn't also ignite a moral firestorm in the United States. · . cua an virtual forms should not becollapsed roget er Hopefully, you are fully aware of how controversial some of this material m regulation many A I h' it .' ng op one countnes have not done the same when I in comes to child pornogra h Whil 0 may be more conservative circles." th k Py. Iethe stereotype inJapan inthe 199swas This comment led to a lot of discussion here about the content of the at ota u could not distinguish between fiction and reality it is now coun- t book and its market in the States. We want the main market to be teen- fnes other than Japan th t· '.J d . a are conflating the two in law and criticizmg apan agelyoung adult and not academic. We also don't want to cause what ornotoingthesameOtak bhi .' dia but the i ... u as mg has become Japan bashing 111 the me I, e Issue ISstill lolicon. **** calls "a moral firestorrn." .I With these two concerns in mind, my superiors read the manuscript. .. h I suretheywould come back warned a second opuuon from t em. was Case study: "a moral firestorm" and demand that the Uchiyama Aki chapter, for example, be ctIl,. but they thought the interviews were OK. They thought the most potentially In the context of its use a 1970s and 1980s I I' mong manga and anime fans in Japan in the comroversial part of the book was your intro, With far too much men lion , 0 IConwas not ass . d wi . d .efor actual child b cerate With ehild pornography or eSif of SEX and EROTICISM! They have asked us to tone Itdown [...]. I ren, ut rather d . , 'r! esire 'Or manga/anime-style, cute, cartoony gl

-- ...... 116 Patrick W. Galbraith "The lolicon guy" 117

The point was also made that something missing from the intro is an Context for the publisher's response authorial stance. What do you, the author, think? What have y ou got to While my publisher's concerns may seem exaggerated, Ido think that the threat say, as a fan, to other fans about whether this is good or bad or sick or of a moral firestorm that they imagined (albeit belatedly) w as real in the normal? [...] context of the reception of manga and anime in the United States at the made a funny comment about otaku in the States being forced to **** time. They had every reason to believe that the association o f lolicon might live under a bridge wearing an ankle bracelet. We don't want that to be child pornography, which might trigger a backlash against the book. If happen to you. Or us. there was a moral firestorm, book sales would suffer, and even if they did not, the publisher's image certainly would. Indeed, at the time o f my publisher's While I did agree to many of the edits, I did not agree to make a statement decision, there were already high-profile incidents of pub lishers backing down about whether or not I found attraction to and alfection for fictional char- when faced with a moral firestorm. acters to be "good or bad or sick or normal." I also asked my editor to In 2007, for example, Seven Seas Entertainment abandoned its planned Eng- reconsider the decision to cut all discussion of eroticism and sex from the lish-Ianguage release of the manga The Time 0/ Children (Kodomo no jikan, introduction, which would paint a very sanitized and ultimately untrue pic- 2005-13). The project was severely criticized online by peo ple who could not lure of manga, anime and fan cultures in Japan. She eventually agreed, but believe that the company was releasing this story of a precocious grade-school nevertheless did not want any mention of lolicon, which she thought would girl who tries to seduce her teacher. Jason DeAngelis, president of Seven Seas raise Rags about child pornography and pedophilia. In the en d, at her insis- Entertainment, at first stood firm and promised to "have an o pen dialogue with tence, the interview with Uchiyama Aki was cut. The content o f the interview the large book chains and other vendors. My intention is to make them full;, is rather innocuous (see Appendix I in this volume), and alth ough a few of his aware of this debate [... and] familiarize them more fully With the content drawings included in the layout are somewhat risque, they are not out of line (DeAngelis 2007a). Open dialogue and familiarizing people with the content with what many other artists produce today. I can only conclu de that it was before they judge it seem reasonable enough, but before DeAn gehs could act, the strong association with "lolicon" _ that particular "fo ur-leiter word" (Ali vendors canceled their orders for the now toxic title. In a later statement, 2014a) - that made Uchiyama unsuitable for the book. Lolicon generally and DeAngelis agreed that The Time 0/ Children "cannot be considered appropriate Uchiyama specifically could have no place in a book introducing Japanese for the US market by any reasonable standard" (DeAngclis 200 7b). Further. media and popular culture. Ultimately, the refusal 10 look at and discuss the

content of lolicon media not only makes it feel objectionable and obscene, but Ilovethemanga mdustry. an did eIg I'ht i m,my job and I would . rather . not also forecloses more nuanced understandings and positions such as those take the risk of causing problems that could undermine this industry, emerging m Japan. especially.m .. light of the esca I' aung me di iascru tinywehavebeengetung . My publisher's decision was made to avoid igniting "a moral firestorm," on this title [... J. If the controversy continues to escalate further, It could . h sof not only those who which came packaged with the imagined threat of everyone getting burned. If reflect very poorly on SevenS eas 10 teeye .' they wer~ associated with presumed perverts, pedophiles an d predators, the oppose [... The Time 0/ Children] within the manga community, but m pubhsher s Image might be damaged, it might lose customers and sales or face the eyes of practically anyone who does not understantD:;~,~:iiS 2007b) legal acnon. They warned me that we all might be arrested, put on a registry somewh~~e and ostracized - "forced to live under a bridge wearing an ankle . .r Cl 'ldr is not so dilferent from bracelet. . Recall that we faced this imagined threat for doing three things: The rationale for abandoning The Time OJ 11 aren . Aki: B h . . with Uchiyama I. at one, wriung about lolicon without adopting the position that it is bad and myOwn publisher's decision to cut the mterview h Id SIck' two It'· h I' .k f .g problems t at cou words: ' ISenmg to people involved and providing a forum for t er publishers would rather not take the ns 0 causrn I I Th . di ndpopuarcuture. e ds, and three, mcludmg Images of manga/anime-style cute cartoony gIrl undermine the industry surrounding Japanese me raa h di migh t be characters to illustrate what was being discussed. My publisher was respond- . dfans ofsuc me ra same fear is there that manga and arume an d.jf t hild par- mg to the imagined threat of a moral firestorrn of being perceived as . d . e as perverte ,1 no c perceived in the wrong way: manga an arum hil dpredators . TnotpedopIesan . defendmg and standing with perverts, pedophiles and predators, if not also nography; fans of such media as perverts, I .' h 'scontent to being oneofthem h' h .htrui . isk my . .' W rc mig t nun OUf lives. Rather than take the ns , While DeAngelis was at first interested m explallllng ~ e Idn angthamedia scru- publisher deCIded th t d . . I been k d way when lace WI · . a wor s and Images that had not prevIous y t.hase who did not understand, heb ac 'e a, t ob"eet to it anyway. He ojectlonable-andmb d' d '. . ould . ye Itoran hersupenors did not agree on thIS- w tiny and people who do not understand manga bu j I th end he '1 f-moral firestorm. n e , now tngger a response from "conservative circles" and could not be included backed away from the imagmed tHeat a " 111 the book.

-. 118 Patrick W. Galbraith "The lolicon guy" I 19 agrees that a relationship - whatever that means - involving a grade-school Rubin's work was partly inspired by the philosopher Michel Foucault, who girl and her teacher is objectionable and "cannot be considered appropriate expands on the connections between sexuality, children and risk. In a public for the US market by any reasonable standard." As it was in the specific case dialogue in 1978, Foucault noted a shift from punishing illegal acts to of The Time oj Children, so it is in general with lolicon. protecting vulnerable populations, which he explains as follows: In contrast, the original author of The Time oj Children, Watashiya Kaworu, a female artist who debuted in Bessatsu Shbjo Comic (targeted at [T]here are people for whom others' sexuality may become a permanent girls), responded to the controversy by writing on her blog, "[t]he boundaries danger. In this category, of course, are children, who may find themselves on depictions of loli[con] and so on vary with each locale, era, and culture" at the mercy of an adult sexuality that is alien 10 them and may well be (Anime News Network 2007), which raises questions about what is meant by harmful to them. Hence there is legislation that appeals to this notion of lolicon, why it is or is not acceptable and by what standard. In truth, Seven a vulnerable population, a "high-risk population." Seas Entertainment played a part in setting up the moral firestorm when they (Foucault 1988 276) decided to give Watashiya's rnanga the English-language title of Nymphet (rather than The Time of Children, which is the literal translation of Kodonto For Foucault, the issue is that sexuality becomes a risk that must be no jikan). The manga is not nearly as racy as the proposed title suggests, but managed - a "roaming danger" or "omnipresent phantom" (Foucault 1988: even If il were, would it be objectionable simply beca use it deals with the 281). Foucault's identification of the child at risk has proven almost prophetic taboo subject of cross-generational sex? What about Vladim ir Nabokov's in recent years, which have seen an explosion of concern for children in rela- Lolita (1955)? Would this literary classic be inappropriate if it w ere manga? tion to adult sexuality (McLelland 2005: 61; see also boyd 2014: Chapter 4). Regardless of depth or complexity, if Lolita were manga, it would, like The Catherine Lumby points out that child abuse, which is paradoxically secn as TII11eoj Children, no doubt be categorized as lolicon, which is perceived as totally aberrant and yet widespread in contemporary society, has achieved "a objectionable in the Anglophone world. phantasmic status" (Lumby 1998: 47--48). As Rubin reminds us, "[glreai and Even ifwe grant that market pressures and bad publicity are reason enough mighty edifices have been built on the basis of such phantasm s" (Rubin 20II: to Justify the decision not to publish manga and artists associated with loli- 169). Institutional and social edifices meant to protect children from potential con, what of the talk of being forced to wear an ankle bracelet? That is,what predators invent virtual victims: children who might be harmed, at risk of dowemakeofthe. .. po t entia .II ega I and cnminal .. consequences of publis. hi JOg harm, virtually harmed. Nowhere is this invention of virtual victims more lolicon media In the United States? To understand the imagined threat of the apparent than in the treatment of manga and anime as child pornography: In the absence of an actual child the fictional character is treated as a child, anklebraceletwemut. ' s consi ider t hbe roader context of escalating . concerns aboutsexualitychild drikI .. .. f who is abused virtually; mang~ and ani me featuring fictional characters in . ' renan f1S. n her pioneering work on the politICS 0 sexuality, anthropologist Gayle Rubin explains how institutional and social sexual scenarios are treated as child pornography, which collapses together forces s~parate sex into "good" and "bad" forms (Rubin 20 II: 180) (as my editor actual and virtual forms; manga and anime are said to put actual children at put It,. good orbad orsick or norma I") . G· ood sex IS safe non-commerclial , riskofsexcrimes inspired bysuch media.II .. non-VIOlentcoupledht I '. fh If we follow Foucault's arguments on biopower, or regulation of subjects .' , e erosexua , focused on male genital penetranon 0 t e female genitals mo· . through control of bodies and populations (Foucault 1976: 140), then biopower .' nogamous and aimed toward childbirth while bad sex IS teopposite(Rubin2011·151)Ah . .' f in the contemporary moment extends beyond actual bodies and populations · .. . - mong particularly despised forms 0 gexu- a Iity, Rubin includes "t hi to virtual ones. The state acts on the virtual to control "processes o] emel'gel~ce ranssexuals, transvestites fetishists sadomasoc Is15, sex workers such as ti "h that may become determinate threats" (Anderson 2012: 34) to actual bodies . . pros Itutes and porn models and the lowliest of all, t ose w hoseeroncismtra .' T and populations. Practically, this means surveillance of the virtual, of mteracuons nsgresses generatIonal boundaries" (Rubin 2011: 149). ,0 und erstand the positi f" be Iowli with fictional characters, which might reveal a person's dangerous sexuality bi c on 0 t e owliest of all" on this list it helps to know that R u in ,ormulated her jr] f· ' ."in and might lead to criminal sex acts. In short, a person can be guilty of Virtual · d . er Ieas ater experiencing a "child-porn pamc I theU rute States m th I I h sex crimes, of crimes with no actual victim, because a determinate threat may a- d e ate 970s, which led to harsher laws to punls onenersacrosstheco t (Rbi ... f emerge from the processes of interaction with fictional characters. Her~we see I un ryu 111 20 II: 142). It IS agamst this backdrop 0 the: .. .. I.h i I acteristic of new regimes of eevated concern for h·ld· . .I le IIlventlOn of virtual cnml11als, W lie 1S Clar . . c J ren 111 relation to adult sexuality tint cross_generatlOna sexbe comes"thelowliestof II"bd .'. n- law and order (Hall et al. 1978: 8,35,43,45--46). Sexuahty,.even whebndtl cerns abtb a a sex. Cross-generational sex raises cO . I .. d criminalandJustplam a. ou auseofpow .I· . ·Id f r lI1VQyes only Imagll1ary others call be angerous, . . . " life H er,VIOatlOnofmnocence and damaging achi 0 , .' d " magmary . ere we see how se r I s The line between good and bad sex, as ~lIb.lI1 remll1, SUS, .IS I. and ind -d . xua Ity comes to be perceived as a threat to at leI', ec to socral order itsclf (Rubin 20II: 151).,n (Rubin 20 II: 151), so it is filling that the Ime IS drawn m the unagmary. 120 Patrick W. Galbraith "The lolicon guy" 121

While this may all seem purely theoretical, it is in fact already in practice in consequences is a serio LIS limitation to free thought and open dialogue. It not many parts of the world, including the United States, typically considered a only closes down the space for dissenting opinions, but also prevents under- bastion of freedom of expression, but one that is also struggling to surveil and standing of the issues at hand. To borrow a turn of phrase from Kirsten respond to emergent threats. In May 2006, US postal inspectors raised flags Cather (in this volume), we do not give lolicon "a fair trial." Wedo not sec it, about a man named Christopher Handley, who they suspected of importing but assume that we somehow still know what it is. The decision to cut the "cartoon images of objectionable content" from Japan (Ani m e News Net- Uchiyama Aki interview seems so problematic to me because it makes his work 2008)." Authorities seized more than I,200 items from H andley's home work invisible and silences him, which not only eliminates a chance to and accused him of possessing "drawings of children being sexually abused" understand lolicon, but also makes it taboo and unspeakable. By not actually and "depictions of minors engaging in sexual conduct" (Anim e News Net- looking at images and listening to people involved, we all too often do not work 2008, 2010). Of the 1,200 items, approximately 80 were deemed objec- know what we are talking about and rush to judgment based on fear of the tionable, many from Comic LO, which is a lolicon manga magazine.13 Faced unknownlother. With a mandatory minimum sentence of five years if convicted, and afraid that the material would immediately repulse a jury without any knowledge of Global feedback and self-regulation in Japan manga and arnme, Handley accepted a reduced sentence for a guilty plea in May 2009 (Chase 20I0). He was sentenced to six months in jail and, although In Japan, self-censorship has expanded into a system of private companies not forced to register as a sex offender, ordered to "participate in a treatment and public facilities self-regulating in response to moral firestorms or the program, to include psychological testing and a polygraph examination, as threat of them. The results can be stunning. In October 1999, a new child directed by the U. S. Probation Officer" during three years of supervised pornography law in Japan - passed amid intense global criticism (see Cather, r~lease and five years of probation (Anime News Network 20 I0). Although this volume) _ raised the possibility that certain forms of m anga might now tiere ISno evidence that he ever purchased or possessed child pornography be illegal. Rather than wait for action by police and prosecutors, Kinokuniya featunng actual children, Handley is treated by the American judicial system, Books, a major retailer, sent a fax to all of its stores telling employees to and one assumes those who know him from this case, as a pedophile and "remove anything suspicious" from the shelves (Fujimoto 2011: 30). Among potential predator who needs to be monitored and reformed. B ecause the case the manga removed were Miura KentarD's Berserk (1989-) and Inoue Take- was never t~ken to trial in an open courtroom, we do not know for certain hiko's Vagabond (1998-), both series for young adults that have won the what offensive material Handley purchased and possessed, but he was and is Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. Significantly, neither of these works could by Judged all the same. Under the heading "kiddie porn" in an introductory any stretch of the imagination be categorized as pornography, let alone child pornography, but they were still deemed suspicious because the dark fantasy :nmmology textbook m Wide use in the United States, we find that Handley, series shows a child being sexually abused and the historical drama regardless of your personal thoughts," is guilty (Siegel 2011: 15). Berserk TheexampleofamoIfi " . Vagabond shows an "underage" samurai warrior having sex (Fujimoto 2011: ra restorm ignited by the planned English-language release of The Time 0 r CI '11' d '" I d 30). This extreme example demonstrates that the strategy of seif-reguiallon . . 'J 11 Glen an concomitant imagined threat oflega an cnmmal consequence b di db' . t can be an ultimately conservative one; preemptively self-regulatmg can have a . sem 0 re y Christopher Handley were not d,stan memones when my b k" . I serious chilling effect on adult forms of expression . ., 00 was in production in 2014 and they certain Y mlormed theexternal . , , 0 The rush to remove suspicious material from ~~elvescontinued in,the n~~t reviewer s comments and my publisher's response. ne can understand why d'· . decade. In 2008 complaints from a handful of ciuzens led the Sakal Munier- . ane uor, who receives an email containing ommous warmngs about "a moral fi t " " u: kle pal Library in Osaka to remove around 5,000 books from its shelves, which " res arm, conservative circles" and an an bracelet would tak .t h . were young adult novels focused on romance between male characters. When . he di .e I to er supenors and insist on cuts to the book to excise t e diSCUSSIon fir t feminists and free-speech advocates protested that not a single one of the biecti . 0 a Icon. It does not matter that the content was no o recuonabte on initial rev: . h t books had been deemed an "unhealthy publication" - that IS,w illie they may it bi review my editor and her superiors did not agree t a ..I' 0 legal grounds for the I was 0 JectlOnable on b' fi not have been to the taste of en ncs, t lei e were n il '. su sequent review or that the threat of a moral re- sorrnt was an imagmed 0 d removal of the books _ all 5,000 titles were returned to the shelves. Whi e tti b . one. necan understand backing off lolicon to avoI . . . 19aeditor cnnc and edu- ge mg urned - Just to b "Wh' d I Illany perceived the Sakal case to beavictory, mal '. d would lik . esae. lie Ifind fault with no one involve, .. . hd.. 1 to remove the titles base Ietopomtouttht . . d cater FUjimoto Yukari pomts out that t e eCISlO1 . a my publisher's decision rellected and contnbute . ld rai erious questions about the to I a arger problem f' . n on pressure from conservative Circles shou raise S... ?Oll' mang d . 0 Ignorance. Refusal to look at and discuss lolico d· .Id i h self regulation (Fujimoto - . a an arume leadst. .. dn eClslon-maklllg processes II1VO ve III suc - . I ignorance TI . idi 0 Ignorance about It and Judgments base 0 30-31). The books were returned when pressure was applIed from tle . le mSI 10US po f . . tlal WeI' a self-censorship to aVOid poten -- 122 Patrick W. Galbraith "The lolicon guy" 123 opposite direction, but decision makers at the library remained ignorant of one wonders how much longer such people can continue when opponents (or chose to remain silent on) the content of the books, which they did not label manga and anirne - lolicon or otherwise - with toxic terms such as child discuss publicly. If there had been no opposition, the books would have stayed pornography, and juxtapose the content with stories of molested and mur- off shelves. Such opposition is in fact rare, because few want to be openly dered children. If allowed, spurious arguments that collapse together actual associated with objectionable material. Fujimoto points out that when the and virtual forms of child pornography, manga and anime and pornography, Tokyo Metropolitan government attempted to pass revisions to an ordinance and real and imagined harm to vulnerable bodies and populations win based and expand its power to name unhealthy publications, liberal politicians who solely on their powerful emotional appeal to "think of the children" (Rubin were in principle opposed were nonetheless cowed into not voicing dissent by 2011: 141). Ironically, the more we "think of the children" in the abstract, the smear campaigns that referred to them as "porn politicians" and "the enemy less we actually look at the offending media and material objects and evaluate of children" (Fujimoto 2011: 37). Revisions to the ordinance were passed in demonstrable harm to children. Rather than grounded discussion, we end up December 2010 (see McLelland 2011). with ungrounded judgment. When journalists in the Anglophone world uncritically associate manga and arnrne with child pornography (Ripley et al. 2014) and treat lolicon like a The limits of cool Japan four-letter word (Alt 2014a), this feeds back into conservative politics in Japan. Consider the example of debate show TV Takkuru, which in an epi- Some readers might be thinking that even if a commercial publisher shied sode aired on September I, 2014 posed to panelists, including Tsuchiya away from lolicon for fear of a moral firestorm, an academic publisher cer- Masataka'"a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, the following tainly would not. Perhaps, but academia is not without its limits. For example, questIOn:. Do we need to regulate violent lolicon anime?" Framing the when I proposed to include drawings by Uchiyama Aki in this chapter, Mark debate with explicit reference to an English-language article calling Japan the McLelland, the editor of this volume, expressed concern that he might be Empire of Child Pornography (Adelstein and Kubo 2014), the examples of criminally liable for "making available" child abuse images that would be lolicon marshaled by the show's producers included The Time of Children - prohibited in the United Kingdom and Australia (see McLelland 2005; Eiland 2009). The drawings, therefore, have not been included in this volume, anarumeadaptationof. aprevious . I yunobjectionable .. manga for young . a dI uts, which global feedback had made objectionable. From there, the range of which is released by Routledge, selt~advertised as "the world's leading aca- objectionable material continued to expand until it included "bathing scenes" demic publisher in the Humanities and Social Sciences." 14 The decision is no different from my commercial publisher, and the result is also the same: The andeventuallyanything.. WI ith" cute girl . characters as protagonists. ." BytliS I. C reader cannot see and does not know what Uchiyama drew, cannot Judge It lastdefinition, muchof' amme, w hihh IC as been celebrated for .Itsstrong lemaI e characters (Napier 2005: 11-12), is suddenly suspect. We see at work in TV for themselves and is left with the impression that it must have been terribly Takkuru what Amy Adler calls the "pedophilic gaze" (Adler 2001: 256-264), objectionable. It does not matter how much I tell the reader otherwise. The images are associated with lolicon, which is thought to be a form of child or the tendency. to s cruti mrze aII. Images of children for potentially pedophl'1' Ie elements,whichmakes .I. " h pornography and so becomes refused content. . . seemmg ymnocuous Images mto child pOrnograp Y an d viewers IOta sus t d " Neither the line dividing the commercial from the academic nor the one . peee sex cnmmals. Given the pedophilic gaze, any mangalamme-style ct· .. dividing the academic from the political is bright and bold, as ISevident m ..' u e, cartoony girl character can be linked to a dISCUSSIOn of I olicon aschild po hvwhich i .' the study of Japanese media and popular culture. From a somewhat cynical . Ti rnograp y, w iich ISprecisely what happened m an arn- ceI In Ie New Yorke' '. . f standpoint, the establishment and growth of a field of study dedicated to . ". ,.accusmg American music star Pharrell Williams 0 prod ucmg a lolicon id " (AI . contemporary Japanese media and popular culture seems. deeply tied to VIeo t 2014a). While we might find such claims asurb d ,th eycollectivel . . h'ld Shifting economic and political fortunes in Japan and the United States, or a Y paint a picture of Japan as the Empire of C I Pornography and Ie it'· k "crisis of Japan Studies" (Harootunian and Sakai 1999: 593-598): The 1990s .. g imate regulatory Impulses. Back on the set of TV To - klilli, conservative p litici T . saw the decline of the Japanese economy and a shift of geopolitIcal mterest . 01 reran suchlya answers the question "Do we need to reguateViolentloliconan'?"I I. . . ' . Ie toward East Asian neighbors. On the one hand, within Asian Studies, fewer andth bi nne. - wuch Ignores regulations already Inpac earnrguityofwhat' bvloli . people were signing lip for classes on Japan and more were taking c1a.sseson "V" IS meant y lolicon - with a confident and rIghteoUS, res, China and South Korea' on the other hand, within Japan Studies, the mterest As we have seen jud If' d was not in economics and political science, but rather media and popular clild ,g nents 0 manga and anime in terms of lohcon an .' idly building toward a full- 11 pomography areoft b d . d to euIture, most especially arume which was rapt .... discourage f h en ase on Ignorance, and these judgments ten blown boom (Landsberg 20 II;. The crisis of Japan Studies, of legltlmlZ1l1g reet ought and di I the anti-regul ti . open ialogue on difficult issues. Althoug 1 a d . . . IIbid byahgn1l1goneselfwith a Ion panehsts 0 TV T b te Ca emlc 1l11Crestin that natIOn, COll ( e reso ve n 1 akkurll appeared to have won the de a , 124 Patrick W Galbraith "The lolicon guy" 125 the phenomenon of "cool Japan," which assured us that Japan, through the Ignoring his good council, I did publish the article in a peer-reviewed powerful appeal of its media and popular culture, was still economically and journal (Galbraith 20II), which has led to me being known as "the lolicon politically relevant in the world. This renewed interest in Japan in the United guy." That I have been labeled this way means that I effectively did commit States was in turn a boon to the struggling government of Japan (Leheny career suicide. The lolicon guy: Does that mean a guy who studies lolicon or 2006: 214-216, 220-223; Choo 20II: 85, 87-88). In many ways, the interests a guy who has a Lolita complex? The lolicon guy seems to suggest both. So of Japan Studies programs in the United States and the Japanese government career suicide: Who wants to hire or work with the lolicon guy, whose work aligned in encouraging the growth of "Japan fans." The aim of such encour- reveals his perverse "interests?" If, as Karen Kelsky suggests, the academic agement is no secret: In 2015, the Japanese government announced that it job market is in many ways comparable to a popularity contest, then would invest US$15 million for funding Japan Studies at nine US universities researching lolicon is a mistake in two ways: "picking the wrong things to as part of a "push to counter the growing influence of China and South highlight" and "underestimating the importance of Iikeability" (Kelsky Korea" (Umekawa 2015).15 It would be nice to think that only governments 2012).17 Lolicon highlights the wrong things: on one scale, it risks causing are so nationalistic and territorial, but Japan Studies programs also worry problems that could undermine the industry (commercial, academic) sur- about the growing influence of China and South Korea, and losing students rounding Japanese media and popular culture; on another, picking this topic and institutional funding to China Studies and Korean Studies. supposedly highlights my own perverse "interests." The lolicon guy is not In an environment of inter-nationalism that encourages studies of and by very likeable; he might not find research funding or stable employment. As Japan fans (Iwabuchi 2010: 92, 95), there is a demand for research on manga my university professor friend dutifully warned me, it is better not to take the 18 and anime,. but what about research on lolicon? My sense is that one can risk of writing about provocative topics like 10Iicon. cnticrze lolicon, but anything beyond that is unwelcome. Actually looking at Just as there are social, institutional and national politics that allow and the material and talking to producers and consumers or it is taking things too limit the study of Japan, so too are there politics to the study of popular cul- far. To the extent that lolicon manga and anime have been condemned as ture. Cultural theorist Stuart Hall draws our attention to the "structuring child pornography, any discussion of them academic or otherwise is severely principle of 'the popular'," or "the tensions and oppositions between what limited. James Kincaid notes that the n~rrative of child porno~raphY and belongs to the central domain of elite or dominant culture, and the culture of abuse ISa"gothic" one, where there is only good and bad, right and wrong, the 'periphery.' It is this opposition which constantly structures the domain of for the children or against them (Kincaid 1998: 10-11). A person who does culture into the 'popular' and the 'non-popular'" (Hall 1998: 448). To understand "popular culture," then, we must look past particular forms to the "notImmediatelydenounc esuematena h .I.IS seen as standing .' agamst CI hild ren- dynamic processes of power that shape them. For example, Hall argues that, the. enemy of child Iren "(F" ujnnoto 2011: 37). Such a person is seen as standing with the pedophiles and predators _ one of them not one of us- "[t]he magistrate and the evangelical police have, or ought to have, a more and lS guilty by asso . t' 0 . ' . 'honoured' place in the history of popular culture than they have usually been .. em Ion. ne can recognize the pressures of a gothIC nar- rative In mypublish ' d d r: " . . accorded" (Hall 1998: 443). Indeed, "the magistrate" and "evangelIcal police" ers eman lor an authonal stance" on whether certaIn in Japan and beyond have certainly impacted the kinds of manga and arume formsofmangaanda.. rnme are "d goo or bad or sick .or normal, ,,' but one IS forced 1I1tOthesamec . d .. . . that are produced, circulated and consumed, including lolicon, but they are . cmprorruse position In academia. Here too, one IS Judgedfornottakingth I ...' . not the only ones involved in structuring the popular. Hall explains: r e on y acceptable posiuon on an ISsue that ISnot open ror debate. For example in 2010 I.. hi hi What is more a whole set of institutions and institutional processes arc .' ,was wntmg an academic article on lolicon, w ic saw as an tnterventio . t h d' . required to sustain each [dominant and peripheral culture]- and to con- . n 111 0 t e ISCUSSIonof certain forms of manga as harmful or hindering th I Ih d . It tinually mark the difference between them. The school and the education e lea t y eveloprnent of young people 111 Japan. seemed to me that iti . J . system is one such institution _ distinguishing the valued part of the cul- en ICS111 apan were emboldened by the negative receplion . .df the a f adult manga ani d d ture, the cultural heritage, the history to be transmltte, rom ' me an games overseas. Globally lolicon had emerge as aeywordtorefertothk bl' ' bt "valueless" part. epro em of (Virtual) child pornography in Japan, u (Hall 1998: 448--449) th ere was much con [usi b . . r (A' rsion a out Its meaning. When I told a universuv pro- ressor mencan male) I I. . Ie "'.' W 10 consider a friend. that I was writing an artie . I dorni It iral forms and "cultural on IIa Icon, he advised th t I .I' h Penp ieral cultural forms can become onuuant Clll .. would a a notgothrough with the puhlicauon. w lIC 1,'". b npopular culture. This IS a 1I mount to "career s . id " If' ,I' ter- entage, Just as popular culture can ecome ested" thi UICI e. I were perceived as someone 10 . d . . I..h archers and educators are 111 IStOPICheexpl' d' '. Id art ynamlc and ongoing process, one IIIWHC rese. . to publ' h h " ' a1l1e,Itcould nlln myJob IJrospects. IshOu w, .I . d.kwledge all cultural forms, IS sue provoc t'" . l1lVo ved through produclI1g and repro lIClllg no a lye malenal until I have tenure. 1(, 126 Patrick W. Galbraith "The lolicon guy" 127 our evaluations are not politically neutral. For Hall, popular culture is a Conclusion terrain of struggle or even a "battlefield" (Hall 1998: 451). This chapter has considered the social, institutional and national politics that Particularly helpful in a discussion of national(izing) discourses such as allow and limit the study of Japanese media and popular culture, I have "cool Japan" is what Hall calls "the terrain of national-popular culture" (Hall argued that it is imperative to open up and maintain a space for researchers 1998: 451). Note the hyphen that connects the nation and certain cultural to take on unpopular topics, which challenge us to be critica l without rushing forms: the hyphen holding together a constellation of "national-popular," for to judgment. Through an unpopular topic such as lolicon, we can begin to example "Japanese-popular" culture. Here we must consider not only the obvious question national(izing) discourses of "cool Japan" and "weird Japan," and example of cool Japan policy and its selection of media and popular culture to go beyond them to more nuanced discussions of cultural politics, As Koichi promote, but also our own educational institutions and practices of knowledge Iwabuchi rightly points out, much is missing from simple criticisms and (re)production. When publishing and teaching courses on manga and anime celebrations of Japanese media and popular culture: as Japanese media and popular culture or connecting them to Japanese tra- ditions, we are part of the processes shaping national-popular culture. Such We need a serious consideration of the sociohisiorical contexts in which publishing and teaching might find funding from the Japanese government or people passionately consume/appropriate media texts, and of the cultural related promotional institutions - if, of course, the image and history of Japan politics and cultural economy involved in their active COIlSUl11l11g prac- transmitted is acceptable to the funders (Umekawa 2015; see also Miller, this tices. We must consider issues such as self-empowerment in terms of mar- volume). When selecting works by Tezuka Osamu and Miyazaki Hayao as ginalized identity politics (gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, nation, manga and anime traditions, we are involved in deciding "the history to be and so on), coping with the tyranny of everyday life 111 the neoliberal transmitted" (Hall 1998: 449). We create a descriptive inventory that freezes world [and more]. popular culture into particular forms, which ignores the dynamics of selection (Iwabuchi 2010: 88)'9 and struggle over meaning, Our work is not politically neutral. One might, lor example, exclude Uchiyama Aki and the lolicon boom from discussions of manga, Here we see pathways for research on popular culture as a terrain of struggle anirne and fan cultures to sanitize Japanese popular culture, or highlight them in Japan, and Japan itself as a terrain of struggle, which is already global and to reveal "Japanese pop culture's dirty little secret" (Alt 2014b), in which we are involved. However, I have shown that research ers all too This is not a question of being right or wrong about Japan, but rather a often choose to remain.,silent on t I1C unpopu I ar topic of lolicon rather than reminder of the politics of writing and talking about Japanese popular cul- face potential.consequences of being .'associate d WI,ith it which both reflects ture. We are already on the terrain of struggle, already part of the institutional and contributes to broader problems, Manga and anime generally, anbd processes shaping Japanese popular culture, and to ignore our position is to . d hild iography; a commercial pu - Iohcon specifically, are condemne as c 1 pon ,". f abdicate the responsibility that comes with it. The academy is ideally a sup- · "h d with the imagined threat a Iisher cuts an interview on lolicon W enf ace portive environment for researching unpopular topics, which contributes to a moral firestorm. another abandons the English-language release of a free thought, open dialogue and more nuanced positions, but, as we have seen , " "'. editor refrains from includ- manga featuring cross-generational eroticism, an f b . m the case of lolicon, the threat of social and institutional repercussions has , "demic volume forfeara ems mg line drawings labeled as lolicon m an aca . a- di ~ limited the range of acceptable topics of research on Japanese media and cnmmally". liable for making ""Ithem avai a ble:e; rather than introduce .allen d.mg popular culture, One writes about certain topics beca use they are popular and . ,'on of lolicon manga an IS Images in court a man pleads guilty to possess: , ". h " ' .' ka "lolicon guy Wit sus- ~I~S to win a popularity contest for funding, publications and jobs (Kelsky Impnsoned' questioning the situauon rna es one ., hi ki d o 2), ThIS situanon has led to an alarming silence on issues such as lolicon, ' . d cive to critical t 111 ing an peer interests, The environment 15 not one can u . I k t lolicon which are of real importance and req uire long-term, in-depth research to ' . , ' t i es Refusmg to 00 a open dialogue on difficult and j mportan ISSU. h C understand, We can no longer remain silent on unpopular topics, Writing and , 'I closes down t e space ror material and listen to people mvolved not ony d di or the talking about lolicon may risk igniting a moral firestorrn and come With the d·, 11 prevents un erstan ing ISCUsslon and debate, but also actua Y f I k own/other Imagmed threat of one's life being ruined, but the alternative is to be compilclt ISsues' at hand. The resultIS ..fear bias, rear anJUand j dgment .'a t te un b n li 't with judgm t b d '. . "obs , en sase on Ignorance, which lead to aClual people 10sll1gtheir J b· , 'I" T main Silent IS to e camp ICI. ased on Ignorance, which can nun ives, a r~ 'd h' and to speak and gOll1gto prison, This has to stop, It is time to tuke a position that chal- I .. and Imagll1e t leats t 15 time to face potenlial consequences" k Inpopular as lenges snTIple critic'Ism I b' f ' I" IIIlUre, , 'fd ngsomaesus l J i . . of.c.e e r~l1on 0 Japanese media and popu £11 C " openly about unpopula I' tOPICS,even I 01 t s time to stop the uncntlcal discussion of "weird .lapan" and "cool Japan, well. Only then WIllwe be able to move on to more nuanced understandings and Crtllgues of cultural politics,

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