Honey Room Obscenity Case Updates?

According to a somewhat puzzling entry at the news blog Manga News Service, there may been movement in the Misshitsu (Honey Room) case in Japan. Publisher Montonori Kishi of Shobunkan was found guilty in district court on January 13, 2004 for the violation of distributing obscene material and, at the time, vowed to appeal. The veteran publisher was sentenced to one year in prison and three years suspension.

The thing is, I can't really tell if this is the higher court ruling, or something that was spit up inadvertently from last year or what. It doesn't seem to add anything, so if this turns out to be a hiccup I'll update here and say so. But it's worth noting if this has moved forward as it was a pretty clear case of an argument between freedom of expression and limitations on same. In fact, the prosecution was using standards developed in an earlier court case involving literature. Another item worth mentioning is that MNS notes that the investigation was started by a lawmaker with an interesting career; political pressure led to last year's suppression of a story depicting the historical event known as the Rape of Nanking.

Not only does pornographic manga have a sizeable audience in Japan, but translated versions have been lucrative for niche publishers such as the Fantagraphics-owned Eros Comix.
 
posted 5:53 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Daily Blog Archives
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
 
Full Archives