Discussions: Japan and Copyright Law

And now for the weekly dose of unexpected seriousness. Watch and Read

In all honesty, I'm not surprised that the Japanese Government was sneaky and cunning enough to succeed where the United States of America and other European governments failed miserably, keeling over at the of the people's power. It was a great victory for us with SOPA and PIPA, but now people are running around in a sudden panic now that Japan has been so abruptly affected.

But here's the thing. I don't know if you guys have noticed, but Japanese copyright laws have always been strict. In a sharp parallel to how Japan has chosen to isolate itself for the most part of its imperial history, the same goes for its technology, media and a lot of its culture. Hence the elusiveness of Japanese MVs, adverts, commercials and shows on Youtube, save probably those that have gone viral like human tetris and that weird passing live animals by the mouth video but as you guys have probably noticed, they're in all in LQ and those few that have withstood the tests of time have much lower viewership than those that originally uploaded but taken down. Sucks, huh?

It especially sucks to be a Jpop fangirl because while Kpop is so readily available because somehow Korean Entertainment industries have grasped the concept of social media so well (twitter, youtube and facebook) and now market their idols as if they were inanimate products for sale, which in some lights says a lot about how objectified Kpop Idols are nowadays, but I digress. Japanese idols however are much more private and the public in Japan have to abide by much stricter rules when it comes to fandom. Heck, the Johnny's Entertainment Artist Image ban was lifted only just recently. Do you guys remember the days when we'd get Japanese Drama advertisements and the main character's face was blurred out or cartoonized so ridiculously because he was a Johnny's artist?

Yehp, that's Johnny's for you. (source: dramacrazy.net)

It is for that reason that IMO, Japanese youtubers have come up with some of the most unique things to make videos about. Take for example RRcherrypie. And despite it all, Japanese dramas, music and media has still manage to reach us in foreign countries due to the continued efforts of Chinese and Japanese fans out there. So much so that we forget that technically they're risking a lot just by doing so.

Thus, this might bring people to automatically think that even as this new bill to take copyright law in Japan to a whole new level of crazy is passed, sources of our well-loved Japanese media will still always be there, and to some degree, that's correct. But that doesn't mean we should sit around doing nothing, because this bill is so much more than that.

While we may not be affected directly (because there will always be brave Chinese fangirls souls out there ready to risk it all to upload an episode of Hey!Hey!Hey! or the latest hit drama), it is the Japanese viewers that will have to take the brunt of the ridiculousness of this bill. Seriously - what if youtube actually is declared illegal in Japan, what then? And while we may argue that implementation of the law will be much harder than passing it and we have a good five years of preparing for the worst of it when the time comes that it does start to affect us, I'd like to rebut by saying this is JAPAN we're talking about. They are capable of just about anything (well, not really, but they're pretty close). If they managed to pass this new amendment to their copyright laws so discretely, trumping the U.S. and Europe's efforts in the process, they're damn sure to be able to follow through with it  much better than either of those superpowers would have ever been capable of doing.

That aside, what does this mean about all the illegal Karaoke bars out there that don't pay royalties to use songs for drunk Japanese businessmen to jam to? Kidding aside, this is a serious issue, and I guess I'm just playing my part by trying to make you guys aware.

Fangirls, advocates of Japanese Culture and all your hentai pervs out there (I know you exist. You're part of this problem too) - you're all affected.

Make yourself aware.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/258086/jail_time_fines_for_illegal_downloads_debated_in_japan.html
http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/21/3105758/japan-illegal-downloads-criminal-offense

That's it. Serious-mode deactivate. Here, hava Rick Roll.

What do you guys think about this new law? Will you be directly affected? Leave a comment below.