JAPANESE POLITICS MAKE CHILD PORN SIMPLE

1. (C) SUMMARY: Prior to the Diet,s dissolution, there were
media reports that the ruling and opposition parties had
reached an agreement to ban the simple possession of child
pornography (CP). According to Embassy contacts, however,
these reports were apparently an attempt by the ruling
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to make the Democratic Party
of Japan (DPJ) "look bad" on this issue in the run-up to the
August 30 elections. In fact, the two parties only agreed on
the need for further discussion on the issues separating
them. The LDP tactic appears to have backfired, with the DPJ
now more rigidly opposed to the LDP,s proposal. END SUMMARY.



2. (C) In separate meetings, DHS/ICE Attach and Embassy
Political Officer met with National Police Agency (NPA)
Juvenile Division Superintendent Naoharu Uchiyama to discuss
ongoing Diet efforts to ban the simple possession of CP.
(NOTE: Japan and Russia are the only two G8 countries that do
not ban the simple possession of CP. END NOTE.) According to
Uchiyama, the LDP leaked the news of an agreement on the
criminalization of CP simple possession as a political ploy
to make the DPJ "look bad" in the eyes of the public (because
shortly thereafter, the DPJ filed a no-confidence motion,
effectively ending Diet business and making it look like the
DPJ was playing politics with the CP issue). Uchiyama, who
attended a subsequent meeting between senior LDP and DPJ
members of the Judiciary Committee, described the DPJ as
"upset." The LDP representative was "forced on the
defensive" with the DPJ "hardening their stance" against the
CP amendment proposal. Uchiyama characterized the LDP tactic
as "a total failure."



3. (C) Asked what he felt were the post-election prospects
for the passage of an effective CP law, Uchiyama said that
officially the NPA cannot take a position on pending
legislation, but that privately he was not optimistic.
"First of all,' he said, "assuming the DPJ comes into power
after the elections, deliberations about a CP amendment
probably won't take place until April of next year." He
explained that the DPJ will need time to prepare a defense of
their current position -- which is not to ban the simple
possession of CP -- from the criticisms of the other parties.
He added that the vote margin obtained by the DPJ, as well
as the number of New Komeito party members elected in the
upcoming election, would also be keys in determining how much
pressure could be summoned to obtaining a compromise in the
hardened DPJ position on not criminalizing CP simple
possession. (NOTE: The New Komeito Party has been the party
in the ruling LDP coalition that has spearheaded efforts to
criminalize the simple possession of CP. END NOTE).

4.(C) Asked as a policeman involved in day-to-day efforts
both to protect children from sexual predators and to
prosecute child pornographers what he thought of the DPJ
version of the CP amendment bill, Uchiyama shook his head and
responded, "It's totally unreasonable, and ineffective as a
law enforcement tool." First, the DPJ bill,s definition of
CP is "too vague." Second, because the internet log
retention period for Japanese Internet providers is
conventionally only three months, the DPJ requirement for
penalizing "repeated acquisition" would allow someone to
repeatedly acquire CP as long as they waited three months
between acquisitions. Third, the DPJ amendment requirement
for "acquisition onerously" ("Yusho no shutoku") will need to
be interpreted by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), but probably
will mean "in return for money." This would mean that
neither "hobbyists" nor people who provide recompense by
means of "goods and services" will be liable for prosecution.
Asked if the DPJ Rep. Edano's concern about entrapment or
involuntary downloading warranted language which does not in
fact ban simple possession, Uchiyama said, "Absolutely not,
in practice it is easy for the police to determine whether a
person voluntarily is collecting CP by examining how they
file and store those images."



5. (C) Uchiyama also shared observations of the nature of CP
activities in Japan. "First of all," he said, "there is a
lot of money involved. We have for example detected a group
of 6,000 members who buy and trade CP. In most cases, the CP

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is sold in DVD form." He said he did not believe the Yakuza
were heavily involved, rather, "the majority of those engaged
in buying and trading CP in Japan are unemployed, living at
home, and/or self-employed." Asked if there was any Japanese
equivalent of the Butner study which showed hands-on child
victimization by approximately 80% of the criminals arrested
for CP violations, Uchiyama said it would probably be
difficult to do such a study in Japan, but that he would
"look at NPA internal records to see if a similar statistical
case could be made."



6. (C) Asked for his advice on what steps the Embassy could
take to keep this issue before the public and in front of
political decision-makers, Uchiyama said, "Agnes Chan, the
Japan UNICEF Spokesperson, has great influence on Japanese
public opinion on this issue. The former U.S. Ambassador's
Op-Ed pieces also made a very significant difference."

ZUMWALT