Essay on American Censorship of Japanese Animation

As a young boy, nothing appealed to me more than Saturday cartoons. The feeling of waking up every morning feeling excited to see what this week’s episode might bring to the table. Every individual show had its own way to express itself whether it be the action, animations/art style, or even the morals it tries to projects to the viewer. Every one of these shows gave me ideas on how to expand my imagination and not to be ashamed of embracing such characteristic. Then, this one particular Saturday morning, I got up and switched on the television to be introduced to a new fictional show that I’ve never seen before. From that day forward, because of that one fictional character, I fell in love with the television series called Dragonball.

Japan’s decision to isolate themselves from the world created the conflict. Their decision however, was greatly influenced by the Europeans, who constantly tried to take advantage of the

Walter Weston, in 1922, said “The geographical features of Japan have much in common with those of ancient Hellas [Greece]. In both locations there are the same combinations of mountains, valleys, and plains, [and] a deeply indented coastline, with its bays, peninsulas, and islands off the coast. Few places inland are far removed from the mountains, and none are really distant from the sea. . . . The land was on all sides well protected, and yet also open to the sea; and in each case, too, there was free

In Peter Duus’ Japanese Discovery of America, the author shows the learning experience that Japan went through in order to become one of the strongest countries in the early 20th century. From 1797 when the first American ship arrived in Japan, to 1879 when President Grant visited the Meiji emperor, Japan, not one of the strongest countries economically and militarily at the time, had interactions with multiple countries that included Russia, England and Portugal. However, Japan’s Confucianism belief and the development of the Tokaido Road served as roots for their quick rise to modernization. Even though multiple countries were cooperating with Japan, the relations with the United States proved to be the most

During the late nineteenth century, the United States and Japan joined European nations to become an imperial power. Their ultimate goal was to influence other areas around the world for their own benefit, interest, and advancement. Countries become imperialistic for various reasons such as economics (secure markets), military power (excessive force and control), and political reasons (nationalism). In order to extend their power, they used these three main components to their advantage essentially to imperialize as many nations as possible. Morality was used to justify or excuse the actions and behaviors of imperialists. The process was certainly not tranquil nor was it approved of by all Americans. As a result, a debate of those who were in favor compared to those who were against it, led to the display of cartoons and poems that helped to illustrate the debate of imperialism.

During the late nineteenth century, the United States and Japan joined European nations to become an imperial power. Their ultimate goal was to influence other areas around the world for their own benefit, interest, and advancement. Countries become imperialistic for various reasons such as economics (secure markets), military power (excessive force and control), and political reasons (nationalism). In order to extend their power, they used these three main components to their advantage essentially to imperialize as many nations as possible. Morality was used to justify or excuse the actions and behaviors of imperialists. The process was certainly not tranquil nor was it approved of by all Americans. As a result, a debate of those who were in favor compared to those who were against it, led to the display of cartoons and poems that helped to illustrate the debate of imperialism.

Censorship on television in the United States has been an issue ever since the television was invented. The public holds a variety of stances on the topic, and no matter what law is ever passed regarding censorship, it will never suit the needs of everyone. Some believe that censorship violates individual rights in the law, and others believe that censorship should be available through members in the family, not the government. On the other hand, some people strive to maintain government regulation of censorship. Television censorship is significant because it holds the future of our country. If channels continue to be censored, our rights will be violated. If not, then the future generations may change

Censorship within the United States is not only an immoral and "big-brotherly" practice, but also an insult to each and every one of those who call themselves US citizens. Every day, censors attempt to sanitize TV, radio, music, print, and even the Internet. In their infinite wisdom, they deem what should and should not be viewed by John Q. Public. Censors succeed in suppressing our free spirits and restraining our thoughts in virtually every medium.

→ The author shows the racism in American from a lot of sources; such as cartoons, official documents, advertisements, movies, and songs. The mass media drew Japanese people as an immature children (p.142) and animals. Especially, cartoons depicted the Japanese as monkeys, apes, rats, bugs, beetles, lice, and other kinds of creatures that had to be wiped out. (pp. 181-189) An example is that one restaurant sign on the West Coast said "This Restaurant Poisons Both Rats and Japs". (p. 92)

This paper will cover censorship in film with its main focus in the United States. It will cover the progress of film censorship and how it has varied throughout the country as well as state to state. The reader will discover how film censorship has changed with society and can be a resemblance of society at a certain point in time. Important cases and lawsuits will be covered as well, enabling the reader to understand why and how certain laws were created and questioned.

In 1543, three Portuguese travelers aboard a Chinese ship accidentally drifted ashore on Tanegashima, a Japanese Island. Within a few short years, a myriad of Portuguese merchants, missionaries, and settlers began to arrive in the country and ushered in almost a century of Portuguese imperial presence in Japan. This time period was a unique era in the history of European imperialism, and it is important to evaluate it from multiple points of view. This comparison is easily done with records such as, Captain Alexander Hamilton’s A New Account of the East Indies: Descriptions of Japan and Engelbert Kaempfer’s History of Japan. These two works are both first-hand accounts of the European interactions with the Japanese people. Indeed, these two

Japans history dates back almost 53,000 years and is filled with interesting and fascinating events. Most of Japans actions have left the major world powers in the world stunned. The base of this amazing country is astonishing just by itself. The base is a bunch of active and large under water volcanoes. Japans uniqueness from the rest of the world ranges from its culture to its very interesting history to the change in government every few hundred years and their trading dilemma with petroleum and their assortment of fish that they export. Japan as a country is so very appealing and kind compared to the rest of the world its no wonder that it’s geographically separate from the rest of the world.

Anime and manga have been around for many centuries and originated in Japan. Though anime and manga were not once considered as just comics or cartoon shows, but rather as scrolls that shared a message or even paintings that depicted salacious activities that were for adults. Nowadays anime and manga are loved for the flashy and dramatic action scenes that take place within the story, and even the characters of the story. People love anime and manga because they can find the characters relatable and can share a good laugh or even cry, which can inspire others and make people happy. The creator of the first anime took inspiration from Walt Disney because he was inspired by the characters and themes that Disney had created.

As Japanese economy soared, its media products such as manga, TV shows, movies and music spread out across Asia. Especially, the young people in Asia began to embrace Japanese culture rather than the culture from the most dominant culture exporter- the United State, and this phenomenon was analyzed by Koichi Iwabuchi in his Feel Asian Modernities. His account of this intra-regionalization in Asia is cultural proximity that Japanese culture shares intimate similarities with other Asian countries and appeal to the audience to perceive this cultural flow.[ Iwabuchi, K(2004), Introduction: Cultural globalization and Asian media connections. Feeling Asian Modernities, pp 12.] In this way, American

While violence attributed to either technological fusion or natural depiction is a great cause of concern for most critics of anime, it does not compare to the outrage visited upon Japanese animation on the basis of sexually explicit content. According to Hinton (2014), the greatest concern for most critics of anime is the constant depiction of underage girls in sexually suggesting situations and scenes. This is especially true for Japanese animation subgenres such as hentai, lolicon and rorikon. Accordingly, Hinton (2014) suggests that western media in particular is often outraged by images of scantily dressed underage girls in Japanese animation. The reality of the matter, according to Hinton, is that Japanese culture as a whole seems to tolerate this sexual depiction because their culture has in the past permitted the prostitution of underage, school going girls by older me for financial gain (Hinton, 2014). In this regard, Hinton (2014) suggests that eroticism in Japanese animation is largely influenced by two key factors; fantasy and purity or innocence, which when combined often have the net effect of distorting human nature.