Dismayed at what they call Japan's entrenched tolerance of child pornography, organizations fighting the practice petitioned welfare minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki on Wednesday for legal revisions to crack down further on the sexual abuse of minors.
The move came after a revised child prostitution and pornography law took effect in July, outlawing private ownership of obscene products involving both male and female children under the age of 18.
But the stepped-up law, under which violators will face criminal penalties, including up to one year in prison or a maximum fine of ¥1 million, has so far done little to rectify Japan's notoriously tepid attitude toward reining in child pornography, the petitioners told a news conference in Tokyo.
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