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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TOKYO 000407 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INL, L/LEI, EAP/J 
JUSTICE FOR CEOS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KCRM KOCI PREL JA
SUBJECT: CHILD PORNOGRAPHY IN JAPAN: FEBRUARY 6 ROUNDTABLE WITH THE 
DIET 
 
TOKYO 00000407  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  Summary: The Japanese Diet may soon consider criminalizing the 
simple possession of child pornography, U.S. delegates to the G8 
Lyon-Roma meeting in Tokyo learned during a meeting with six Diet 
members arranged by Embassy Tokyo.  Although most of the Diet 
participants in the meeting support revising Japan's child 
pornography laws, one vocal opponent articulated the opposing 
viewpoint: that criminalizing simple possession is unnecessary and 
would compromise the right to privacy.  Using examples from the U.S. 
experience, the U.S. representatives addressed these points, but the 
Diet member appeared unconvinced, and many others reportedly share 
his view. 
 
¶2.  The fight against child pornography must transcend borders, 
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and 
Law Enforcement Affairs Elizabeth Verville told the Diet members. 
Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section 
(CEOS) Chief Andrew Oosterbaan, State Department Attorney-Adviser 
David Buchholz, and DAS Verville were in Tokyo to attend a meeting 
of the Group of Eight (G8) Lyon-Roma group, which has addressed 
child pornography issues for more than ten years.  In addition to 
sponsoring an image database that is now used by Interpol to help 
rescue children who are victims of sexual abuse, the G8 Lyon-Roma 
group prepared the G8 Justice and Home Affairs Ministers Declaration 
on Reinforcing the International Fight against Child Pornography, 
issued in May 2007.  The United States is committed to strengthening 
its laws to fight child pornography, DAS Verville continued, noting 
that in signing the declaration, the G8 Ministers pledged to ensure 
that their States have strong anti-child pornography legislation. 
Acknowledging recent statements by the Prime Minister and Justice 
Minister calling for revision of Japan's child pornography laws, DAS 
Verville invited the Roundtable participants to discuss how the 
United States and Japan could work together to better protect the 
world's children. 
 
"Child Pornography" fails to describe this unbearable crime 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
¶3.  The prevailing sentiment worldwide is that child pornography 
images themselves are abusive, Verville told the Diet members.  The 
exploitation does not end with the production of the images.  The 
term "Child pornography" does not capture the horror of the crime, 
added Embassy Tokyo Political Minister Counselor.  Calling the 
images "Child Rape" would be more accurate.  We must refocus our 
efforts on spreading this consciousness.  People who possess these 
images profit financially or sexually from the illegal act, and 
contribute to the global demand for sexual abuse of children. 
 
Opponent of criminalizing possession claims that existing laws are 
sufficient 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
¶4.  Critics of Japan's child pornography law do not understand it, 
said Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Lower House Representative 
Yukio Edano.  Japanese law criminalizes possession for distribution, 
transportation, display, or sale.  As one of the creators of the 
child pornography law, Rep. Edano expressed confidence that any 
child pornography crime can be investigated under the existing legal 
framework.  The law is strict, including all aspects of internet 
trade and criminalizing distribution to even one person.  Statements 
by police that the lack of a law criminalizing simple possession 
prevents effective investigation are "lies," Rep. Edano claimed. 
Any failure by Japan to suppress the spread of child pornography is 
due to ineffective police investigation, not to incomplete 
legislation. 
 
¶5.  Child pornography crimes are getting worse in spite of existing 
laws, responded CEOS Chief Oosterbaan.  Not only is the number of 
offenders increasing, but the violence of the crimes is abysmally 
worse than it was ten years ago.  Most child pornography victims 
today are prepubescent, including infants and toddlers who are being 
inflicted with the "worst kinds of abuse imaginable."  Psychologists 
are saying that viewing child pornography starts a cycle of 
stimulation that frequently ends with the sexual abuse of a real 
child.  In addition to the influence of the images themselves, the 
community a person must join to obtain child pornography images and 
videos has a perverse influence.  The exposure to these networks of 
like-minded individuals leads an offender to think that it is 
"normal" to have sexual feelings about a child.  U.S. prosecutors 
are increasingly concerned not only about the children depicted in 
these images and videos, but also about children who come in contact 
 
TOKYO 00000407  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
with persons viewing child pornography.  Oosterbaan asserted that in 
view of the growing evidence indicating a link between using child 
pornography and committing contact sexual abuse offenses, mere 
possession of child pornography is a crime as serious as any other 
child pornography crime because of the risk an offender presents to 
children who come in contact with him.  Simple possession must be 
criminalized to secure the safety of our children and maintain an 
adequate enforcement regime, Oosterbaan explained. 
 
¶6.  Criminalizing simple possession is critical to a criminal 
investigation, added Embassy Legal Attach.  FBI investigations 
start with matching the IP addresses of persons downloading the 
highest volume of images and videos with names.  Investigations are 
then opened against those persons in "high risk" positions: 
teachers, doctors, bus drivers, etc.  These investigations often 
turn up evidence of crimes besides simple possession, including 
contact sexual abuse offenses and/or identifying other distributors 
of child pornography.  Investigators would never learn of these 
other crimes if it were not for the access to the names of 
downloaders that the criminality of simple possession allows. 
Embassy Legal Attach and other U.S. agencies have provided lists of 
the IP addresses of child pornography downloaders to their Japanese 
counterparts, but the Japanese police say that they cannot take 
action because simple possession is legal.  Rep. Edano interjected, 
repeating his assertion that the police are lying and that the 
problem is that they are not working to enforce existing laws. 
 
Child Pornography and the Right to Privacy 
------------------------------------------ 
¶7.  Japanese police cannot be trusted with the increased search and 
seizure powers that criminalizing simple possession would grant, 
Rep. Edano continued.  In a country where confessions have been 
given too much weight by courts and police interrogation methods 
have regularly come under fire, criminalizing simple possession 
would compromise the human rights of private citizens.  In addition, 
innocent people could be punished for having child pornography 
placed on their computer by a virus or a hacker or placed in their 
briefcase without their knowledge. 
 
¶8.  The United States is also concerned about the rights of the 
individual, replied Verville.  In the U.S. experience, criminalizing 
simple possession has not compromised these rights.  Safeguards can 
be built into the laws, added Oosterbaan.  In the United States, the 
burden of proof is on the prosecutor to demonstrate that someone 
"willingly and knowingly" possessed the images or videos, which can 
be very difficult.  When Komeito Rep. Kazufumi Taniguchi asked 
whether parents taking innocent pictures of their children on the 
beach would be committing a crime, Oosterbaan explained that the 
legal definition of child pornography must be drawn carefully and 
specifically to avoid criminalizing harmless activity.  In the U.S., 
the law requires that an image such as that described by Rep. 
Taniguchi depict the "lascivious" exhibition of the genitals to fall 
under the definition of child pornography, Oosterbaan advised. 
 
To revise or not to revise: Diet members weigh in 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
¶9.  As one of the authors of the original legislation, Liberal 
Democratic Party (LDP) heavyweight Rep. Sadakazu Tanigaki confirmed 
that there were very real concerns about police abuse when the bill 
was written.  But the situation has changed during the last ten 
years, especially with the growth of the Internet, and it is now 
difficult to maintain the same arguments, Rep. Tanigaki stated.  He 
indicated that more discussion is warranted.  Another sponsor of the 
original child pornography law, LDP Rep. Mayumi Moriyama, indicated 
that the 1999 law was a compromise necessary to achieve legislation 
that could be enacted, but suggested as well that the Internet 
represented a new development that warrants review.  Japanese 
standards must meet international standards, added Komeito Rep. 
Kaori Maruya.  In addition to criminalizing simple possession and 
revising the definition of child pornography, measures must be 
enacted to define the responsibility of internet service providers 
(ISPs).  In response to Rep. Maruya's observation that more than 60 
percent of the servers hosting child pornography are in the United 
States, Oosterbaan emphasized the need for a law mandating that ISPs 
report illegal content they find on their servers to authorities. 
DPJ Rep. Koichiro Gemba expressed his support for criminalizing 
simple possession, with the condition that the law must be written 
to protect victims of maliciously planted images. 
 
TOKYO 00000407  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶10.  Comment:  Rep. Tanigaki's active support is significant.  The 
first step in criminalizing simple possession will be for each party 
to create a project team to review the issue.  As the Chairman of 
the LDP Policy Affairs Research Council, Rep. Tanigaki is the 
decision maker for creating project teams.  Komeito has already 
formed its team with Rep. Maruya at the head.  Rep. Maruya was the 
most vocal proponent at the meeting of criminalization of simple 
possession.  The DPJ has also created a project team, with Rep. Miho 
Takai as its head.  The DPJ's Rep. Edano's main arguments seem to 
contradict themselves: saying that police are not exercising their 
powers under the existing legislative framework, and at the same 
time saying that the police would abuse their powers under a revised 
law.  Whether or not his opinion reflects the thinking of the 
greater DPJ, he is an influential opponent. 
 
¶11.  Present at the meeting were: 
 
Japanese Participants: 
-- LDP Rep. Sadakazu Tanigaki, UNICEF Parliamentarian League 
Chairman, LDP Policy Research Council Chairman, Tanigaki Faction 
leader. 
-- LDP Rep. Mayumi Moriyama, architect of the enactment of the 
anti-child pornography law.  Her former posts include Chief Cabinet 
Secretary and Minister of Justice. 
 
SIPDIS 
-- DPJ Rep. Yukio Edano.  The Diet's most vocal opponent of 
criminalizing simple possession, Rep. Edano actively opposes any 
legislation that might negatively impact human rights. 
-- DPJ Rep. Koichiro Gemba, Chairman of Lower House Special 
Committee on Youth Issues. 
-- Komeito Rep. Kaori Maruya, Chair of Komeito Project Team for 
reviewing the anti-child pornography law. 
-- Komeito Rep. Kazufumi Taniguchi, member of Komeito Project Team 
for reviewing the anti-child pornography law. 
 
 
U.S. Participants: 
-- Elizabeth Verville, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau for 
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), DOS 
-- Mike Meserve, Embassy Political Minister Counselor 
-- Drew Oosterbaan, Chief, Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 
DOJ 
-- David Buchholz, Attorney-Adviser, Office of the Legal Adviser, 
DOS 
-- Larry Futa, Embassy Legal Attach 
-- Marc Knapper, Embassy Political Section Deputy 
-- Negah Angha, Foreign Affairs Officer, DOS/INL 
-- Scott Hansen, Embassy Political Officer 
-- Fumiko Gregg, Embassy Interpreter 
 
¶12.  This cable has been cleared by Washington participants.