Tokyo bureaucrats clamp down hard on nipples, other racy photo spreads

Japan's racier weekly magazines -- and the careers of the sexy pin-ups queens who pose for them -- are in a bitter fight for survival, thanks to a new prudish regime in charge at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Tokyo Sports (2/26) says.

From next month, the steamier photo spreads in Japan's wilder weeklies are likely to vanish because the metropolitan government is accusing publishers of being on the verge of breaking an ordinance aimed at providing youths with a wholesome upbringing.

"During personnel changes in June last year, the metropolitan government appointed a woman at the top of the section responsible for policing the ordinance. She's a hardliner and has apparently turned her attention to doing something about the pin-ups in men's dirty magazines," a publishing industry insider tells Tokyo Sports.

The first magazine to cop heat from the capital's pen pushers was lowbrow weekly Asahi Geino.

"Its editor in chief was ordered to appear at City Hall and given a warning to tone down the sexiness of the magazine," a freelance writer who often submits articles to weeklies says. "After that, the people in charge of Shukan Jitsuwa and Shukan Taishu were repeatedly ordered to present themselves to the bureaucrats and both magazines were placed under really strict regulations."

Tokyo has apparently stipulated four types of photos it wants eliminated from the weeklies. They want no shots of men and women embracing, no photos implying female masturbation, no pictures giving the impression of having been taken with a hidden camera and no bondage images.

"Nipples are out, too. And so are any cosplay shots that might be construed as indecent," a magazine desk editor says. "Apparently, the three companies called to present themselves at City Hall have promised 'complete self-restraint.' If that happens, pin-up queens like Aki Hoshino, bondage specialist Aya Sugimoto and Mieko Arai won't be able to get their shots run. This is a matter of life or death for these pin-up queens."

But the publishing industry insider sounds an ominous warning.

"Everyone's saying," the insider tells Tokyo Sports, "the next magazines in Tokyo's sights are (pictorial weeklies) Flash and Friday." (By Ryann Connell)

（Mainichi Japan） March 2, 2008