The law against child prostitution and child pornography bans posting the posting of child pornography images on the Internet. In 2009, the police took action in more than 500 child pornography cases on the Internet, twice the corresponding figure for 2008.
According to the Internet Hotline Center, an organization working in collaboration with the National Police Agency, in 2009 there were some 4,400 cases in which child pornography images were posted, about 2.2 times more than in 2008. In December, the IHC asked site or server operators to remove 90 images; of those, 23 of them remained as of early June.
Child pornography images can spread easily on the Net because they can be copied easily. They can remain semi-permanently, tormenting victims for many years. In addition, people possessing child porn cannot be punished in Japan.