Censorship Within Japanese Media and What it Represents About Japanese Society

Abstract

In this paper I will be discussing the relation between Japanese manga and anime, and the changes from the transition from manga to anime due to censorship laws and changes within post-WWII Japan. Continuing, I will discuss what these laws and changes within Japan are meant to accomplish and what their application/results could have on their media as a whole. Next, I will be discussing what changes are made to media when exported to other countries to adhere to their redactive laws. The definition of censorship that I will be using for this paper is: “Places where media that has been changed to limit the themes, concepts, or actions that are deemed unsensible or unwanted by a large, usually government, body.” This definition is meant to include things that are commonplace such as blurring or black boxes, or even censorship that’s more transformative via cutting out parts of original material completely. This research will make people aware of how media can be changed to convey a certain culture's beliefs on what is “appropriate” for a certain group of people. To take it to a more extreme level, this research will also convey how strict/effective censorship can be at a non-concerning level- not censoring certain content to prevent learning about certain information. And how potentially concerning censorship could be put in place with similar laws. And finally how censorship reflects a culture as a whole.