Japanese National Police Investigating Games

Gamasutra reports that, like here in the states, Japanese games are coming under increased scrutiny by law-enforcement and politicians. From the article: "Japan's National Police Agency is currently investigating the effects playing video games and watching anime have on children. Currently being led by former deputy governor of Tokyo, Yutaka Takehana, the police-sponsored group met on April 10 in Tokyo to discuss topics such as violent video games and sexual content on the internet."

Comments

This just in....

[Scorpion265]

Due to a misunderstanding, massive ammounts of bleach have been pulled from store shelves due to a recent ban passed down from the tokyo police.

Gotta catch 'em all

[Kawahee]

Thank God somebody is doing something about these violent videogames! Thanks to violent videogames, I've murdered 0 people, and am on a degenerative track to murder another 0 more by the end of my gaming life.

In summary, it's all personal responsibility:

  Remember, here in the U.S.A, we have reached a new age.
  NOBODY is responsible for their own actions.
  Remember that.
  Holy shit! I killed somebody! Bob made me do it!
  Bob: Joe made me do it!
  Joe: I blame the media!
  Media: Videogames.
  Videogames: Personal responsibility?
  Personal Responsibility:

You people joke, but...

[Valdrax]

The Japanese are viewed by many Americans as all lovers of anime, video games, and all the other "pop" culture things that we love to import from them. However, the truth is much different.

Anime & video games in Japan is largely split into two different groups:
1) For kids and shown on public TV.
2) For geeks and loners and shown on subscription channels and direct to video shows.

The average adult attitude about adults that spend a lot of time watching anime & video games is very dim thanks to widely publicized crimes by loners over the past two decades. These isolated incidents are basically the equivalent of the D&D killings in the 80s, Columbine, etc. over here and have resulted in a very similar attitude in the Japanese public about the otaku. While there's little religious fundamentalist opposition to the fan service, porn, and violence in adult targetted anime, the mainstream public still views it as unseemly and regards fans with suspicion.

I'm personally surprised they haven't launched an investigation sooner.

Re:You people joke, but...

[Turn-X Alphonse]

You're correct and incorrect at the same time. Watching anime and playing games isn't looked down on at all, it's considered normal for everyone untill they hit 14-15, at which time they more or less force their kids at knife point to be working on school work 7 days a week for 23 hours a day.

Being anti social is where the "problem" lays. Japan has a very 1984ish look on people being on their own. Everyone should be with others and constantly be doing something constructive, if you arn't you must be "one of them outsiders" and you get weird looks and such.

Plus in Japan you work to the bone and you accept it. That's how the society is and always will be.. but watching anime or playing games isn't looked down on, it's the fact that you arn't at work and arn't around people/in a social club that is.

Re:You people joke, but...

[JolieBlanc]

14-15 is where the final year of junior high school becomes 'exam study crazy time', really. It's less about anime/games becoming frowned upon than it is the kids just don't have time for them anymore.

What usually happens about that time is that kids convert over from more private comic book reading/game playing to more social game playing, as they start to have more freedom from their parents as soon as they hit high school. So it's less about the latest Final Fantasy and more about taiko games and print club at the local amusement plex. There are varying degrees of manga, though, and those -do- continue to be acceptable through all ages, more or less; but you're expected to have a book cover on your manga so nobody knows what you're reading. (Then again, this is the country where it's entirely fine for a middle-aged guy to be reading porn mags on the train. Happens all the time.)

In the last decade or so there was a big shift in Japanese educational attitudes, largely due to kids dropping dead from stress in their schooling years. Believe it or not, it's a lot more relaxed than it used to be, and I know plenty of 20-something Japanese people who sort of float along at part time jobs and spend most of their time on their art/band/hobbies. Some are supported by their parents, but some live in tiny little apartments on their own, since property prices have taken a dive from the all-time highs of the late 80s-early 90s. It happens.

Re:Why only now?

[Rei]

I doubt this investigation is going to go anywhere. The video game players will undoubtedly hold off the police by wielding gigantic swords the size of their body, while the anime fans will draw mallets out of nowhere to hit them over the head with. I certainly wouldn't be in the Japanese police during such an investigation.

Seriously...

[iridium_ionizer]

Don't the Japanese National Police have bigger problems to deal with.

Anime, maybe, but you forget Manga

[gullevek]

Everyday millions of Manga Comics are sold. On 20 people, 15 are reading and at least 5 of those are reading Mangas. Thats an everyday thing. And those Mangas reach from ... to ... (put in your own ideas). So it can happen that the guy next to you reads a nice tentakel manga. Quite funny actually (from a western point of view).