Japan's comics and cartoons - known as manga and anime - are a huge cultural industry and famous around the world. But some are shocking, featuring children in sexually explicit scenarios. Why has Japan decided against banning this material?
漫畫和卡通是日本一個巨大文化產業，在全球享有盛名。但是有些卡通漫畫讓人震驚，裡面明顯地描繪一些有關兒童的性畫面。為什麼日本決定不禁止這樣的內容呢？
It's a Sunday afternoon in Tokyo and Sunshine Creation is in full swing. Thousands of manga fans, mostly men, crowd into an exhibition centre, poring over manga comic magazines laid out for sale on trestle tables snaking around the rooms.
在東京的一個周日下午，「陽光創造」（Sunshine Creation）正如火如荼進行著。幾千名日本漫畫迷——以男性為主——湧入展覽中心，擠在遍布展館裡的攤位前，看出售卡通雜誌。
Posters of elfin-faced, doe-eyed cartoon heroines, many of them scantily clad and impossibly proportioned, turn the cavernous space into a riot of colour.
眾多的海報上的卡通女生擁有精靈般的臉龐、大眼睛，大都衣著暴露，不成比例地凹凸有致。它們將整體展館變得五顏六色。
"This area is mainly dealing with sexual creations," explains Hide, one of the event organisers.
活動主辦者之一Hide解釋道：「這部分主要是和性創作有關。」
We stop at one table where the covers on display feature two topless girls. To my eyes they look to be in their early or pre-teens, and the stories show them engaged in explicit sexual acts.
我們在一個展臺前停了下來。桌上放著的漫畫的封面是兩個上身赤裸的女孩，看起來只有10歲左右。漫畫故事明顯是有關她們在從事性方面的活動。
Several other stands are selling similar material. It would certainly be considered controversial, and possibly illegal, in the UK, Australia or Canada, but here it's no big deal.
其他的幾個展臺也在售賣相同的內容。在英國、澳大利亞和加拿大，這自然會引起爭議，甚至都屬於非法，但是在日本卻並非大事。
"Everyone knows that child abuse is not a good thing," Hide says. "But having that kind of emotion is free, enjoying imagining some sexual situation with a child is not prohibited."
「每個人都知道虐待兒童是不對的，」Hide說道。「但是，擁有這種情感自由的，幻想與兒童發生性行為是不受禁止的。」
His candour takes me by surprise. He then introduces me to the word "Lolicon", short for "Lolita complex" - the name for manga featuring young girls engaged in sexually explicit scenarios. It can involve incest, rape and other taboos, though Hide's tastes lie more with high-school romance.
他的坦率叫我吃驚不已。他隨後告訴我了一個詞「蘿莉控」（Lolicon），即「洛麗塔情結」（Lolita complex），意指那些描畫與小女孩發生性行為場景的漫畫。雖然Hide更傾向於一些高中校園的情愛故事，但這個詞與亂倫、強暴以及其他一些禁忌有關。
"I like young-girl sexual creations, Lolicon is just one hobby of my many hobbies," he says.
Hide說：「我喜歡有關年輕女孩的性漫畫，蘿莉控是我眾多愛好之一。」
I ask what his wife, standing nearby, thinks of his "hobby".
我問他身旁的妻子怎麼看待他的這種「愛好」。
"She probably thinks no problem," he replies. "Because she loves young boys sexually interacting with each other."
他說：「她可能覺得無所謂吧，因為她也喜歡年輕男孩之間的性行為漫畫。」
Material like this is a tiny part of Japan's huge manga industry, which generates around US $3.6bn in sales annually. But it attracts a lot of attention and controversy.
日本的漫畫產業年產值達36億美元，而這一類漫畫只是日本巨大漫畫產業的一小部分，但卻激起了巨大的關注和爭議。
In June 2014, Japan's parliament voted to ban the possession of real images of child sexual abuse. Production and distribution of these images had been illegal since 1999, but Japan was the last country in the OECD to outlaw possession.
2014年6月，日本議會禁止擁有有關兒童性虐待的真實圖片。從1999年起，製作和傳播這類圖片是違法的，但是日本是經濟合作與發展組織成員國中最後一個宣布該行為非法的國家。
At the time there were calls to also outlaw "virtual" sexual images - in manga, anime and games - of characters who appear to be under 18. But after much debate, Japan's parliament decided against this. The decision drew condemnation from child protection campaigners and NGOs, particularly outside Japan.
與此同時，還有人呼籲也要將在漫畫、動漫還是遊戲當中「虛擬」性圖片——刻畫18歲以下兒童的圖片劃為違法。但是，在經過幾番爭論之後，日本議會決定不支持該呼籲。該決議受到了兒童保護運動者和非政府組織，尤其是國外的這類組織的譴責。
One clue to understanding it is in the fact that Hide was happily discussing his "hobby" with me only minutes after we first met. Although manga involving very young children does appear to have some social stigma attached to it, sexual material involving adolescents is a fairly mainstream interest.
對此一個例子就是，事實上，Hide在見了我只有幾分鐘之後，就興高採烈地談起他的這項愛好。儘管漫畫會涉及一些有關青少年的社交缺陷，但是有關青少年的性題材依然相當主流。
Japan's legislators were apparently reluctant to put large numbers of manga fans - potentially millions - on the wrong side of the law.
日本立法機構顯然不願意將大量的漫畫迷——有可能多達數百萬人——放到法律的對立面。
Fans like Hide argue they are just enjoying harmless fantasy. No child models or actors are involved, he says, so "there is no child abuse for creating sexual topic mangas".
Hide這樣漫畫絲認為，他們這種幻想不會造成什麼害處。他說，沒有兒童和演員實際參與，因此，「創作性主題的漫畫根本就和兒童虐待沒有關係。」
But is the boundary between fantasy and reality always clear?
但是，幻想和現實的界限真的總是非常清晰麼？
Tokyo's Akihabara district is the spiritual home of the manga world, a place where neon signs and loud pop music overwhelm the eyes and ears. Multi-storey bookshops line the streets, selling manga on every topic under the sun.
日本的秋葉原區（Akihabara）是日本漫畫世界的精神發源地。滿眼的霓虹燈、震耳欲聾的流行樂隨處可見，隨時可聞。幾層樓高書店在街上琳琅滿目，販賣各種主題的漫畫。
In their adult sections, restricted to people over 18, it's not hard to find manga with titles like Junior Rape or Japanese Pre-teen Suite.
在這些書店的成年人區，只允許年滿十八歲的人進入，圖名為「少年強姦」(Junior Rape)或是「日本青少年套房」（Japanese Pre-teen Suite）的作品並不難找到。
"People get sexually excited by something, then become used to it," says Tomo, who works behind the counter in one of the adult stores. "So they are always looking for something new, and get sexually excited by young, immature women."
「人們對一些事物會產生性興奮，然後就習慣了，」在一家成人店工作的營業員託莫（Tomo）說道。「因此，他們總在尋找新鮮的東西，對年少未成年的女孩子會有性興奮感。」
This is what worries critics - the concern that even if no-one is harmed in the creation of sexually explicit manga, it might normalise, facilitate, or lead to an increased risk of sexual abuse.
這也正是使批評人士擔憂的地方：儘管在創作的性場景漫畫中無人受傷，但這可能會使性虐待的風險增加正常化，得到助長，或是引發。
No-one knows whether this is the case - research has been inconclusive. But many in Japan, particularly women, have a wider concern too. They see these images as part of a society that turns a blind eye to extreme pornography - often degrading to women - and the sexualisation of young people.
沒有人知道事實是否真是如此——尚無研究定論。但是，在日本有許多人，尤其是女性，對此很是擔憂。這些人認為，這些圖片也是社會的一部分，讓人們對極端的淫穢作品——常常是貶低女性——以及對年青人性慾化現象睜一隻眼閉一隻眼。
You don't have to look far in Japan to find a fascination with youth. Pop groups of young girls perform for crowds of adult men. And from billboards and advertisements to manga, schoolgirl imagery is everywhere.
日本對年輕人的迷戀由來已久。少女流行音樂團體為大量的成年男性表演。廣告牌上學校女孩的形象鋪天蓋地——從音樂排行榜到廣告再到漫畫。
LiLy, a popular writer of books for young women - Sex in the City, Tokyo-style, she says - told me about her school days when men would approach her and her friends and offer money for their socks or panties.
麗莉（Lily）是一本年輕女性讀物的暢銷作者，寫過東京版的《欲望都市》（Sex in the City）。她對我說，她在學校讀書的時候，會有一些男子走到她和朋友們跟前，要用錢買要她們的襪子和內褲。
"I think that is disgusting, it's very kinky," she says. The fascination with adolescent sexuality is "all about the power that men want to achieve, men who are tired of strong independent women," she argues.
她說道：「我想這太噁心了，非常變態。」他認為，幻想與青少年的性事「成為那些男人想要有的權力。他們厭倦了強勢獨立的成年女性。」
The family model of LiLy's parents' era still holds strong sway in Japan - a father who earns the money and a mother who stays at home as a housewife. But the weakness of Japan's economy has made this difficult for men to realise.
麗莉父母時代的家庭模式在日本搖搖欲墜：父親掙錢養家餬口，母親在家作合職太太。可是，日本經濟的疲軟讓男性很難做維護這種家庭模式。
"There are people business-wise who are not successful, maybe they are running into fantasy with Lolicon manga.
「有些有商業頭腦的人生意失敗了，可能他們就會陷入到蘿莉控漫畫的幻想中。
"I hate it, I seriously hate it. I want Japan to kick out the kinky, just leave children out of that kinkiness, even your fantasy."
「我痛恨他們，咬牙切齒的痛恨。希望日本剔除這種怪癖，讓孩子們遠離這種變態，遠離這種變態幻想。」
But others are sceptical about how far the government should step in to prescribe and enforce a particular vision of what's "good" or "proper", especially regarding people's fantasies.
但是，對政府介入來規定和執行什麼是「好的」或者「適當的」，尤其是有關人們的性幻想的問題，以及介入的程度，一些人還是持懷疑態度。
"There's every reason to be critical, that's fine," says manga translator and free-speech advocate Dan Kanemitsu. "But when you give people the authority to police others based on what they might do or what they think, that's thought-policing."
漫畫翻譯及言論自由權利維護者丹·金光（Dan Kanemitsu）說道：「我們當然應該批評這種行為，但是，如果我們因為人們可能做什麼或是想了什麼，給予人們管理他人的權利，這就是思想警察了。」
So would he stand up for the right of creators to draw manga featuring young children and taboos like rape and incest?
那麼他會支持描繪有侵犯兒童的漫畫以及如強暴和亂倫等禁忌話題的漫畫創作嗎？
"I'm not comfortable with it, but it is not my right to tell people how they think or what they want to share," he says. "As long as it doesn't infringe upon people's human rights, what's wrong with having a fantasy life?"
「我對這種情況也感到不安，不過，我覺得我沒有權利告訴別人怎麼做怎麼想，」他說道。「只要不侵犯人權，意想的生活又有何不可？」
Among the manga shops of Akihabara, child protection campaigner Kazuna Kanajiri takes me to see something she thinks is a much bigger problem than cartoons and comics. We climb a flight of stairs off the main street and emerge into a room packed full of DVDs.
在秋葉原的一些漫畫讓裡，兒童保護活動人士Kazuna Kanajiri帶我去看一些在她看來是一些比卡通和漫畫問題更大的東西。我們在遠離大街的地方，爬了一段樓梯，走進了了一間擺滿了DVD的屋子。
Kazuna picks one off the shelf - it features real images of a girl she says is five years old, wearing a skimpy swimsuit and posing in sexually suggestive positions that mimic adult pornography. All the other DVDs in the shop also feature real children.
Kazuna從架子上挑了一張DVD，裡面都是一個5歲女孩的真實照片：穿著緊身泳衣，擺出一些性暗示的姿勢，明顯是在模仿成年人的淫穢片。這家裡的所有DVD都是有關這種兒童。
"I feel sorry for the children," Kanajiri tells me.
「我對這些孩子感到不安。」Kanajirl說道。
These so-called "Junior Idol" DVDs became popular after the production of child pornography was outlawed in 1999. They dodged the law as long as the children's genitals were covered, but Kanajiri argues they're now illegal after the law was strengthened last June.
兒童色情片在1999年被判為違法，這一類所謂的「兒童偶像」（Junior Idol）的DVD就流行起來。他們鑽了法律的空子，只要兒童的生殖器沒有暴露就可以，然而，Kanajiri認為，這些內容在2014年六月的相關法律得到加強了後就應該是違法的。
"People who exploit should be punished properly," she says. "It's completely illegal under the law, but the police haven't cracked down."
「找這些內容的人們應該受到相應的懲罰，」她說道。「根據法律，這完全是違反的，可是警方卻沒有打擊這種行為。」
While some of the content in manga and anime featuring minors in sexual situations might be shocking and attention-grabbing, Kanajiri and other campaigners I spoke to told me that for now, they are focused on more important battles to protect real children.
Kanajiri以及其他一些活動人士稱，雖然卡通和動漫裡的一些性場景會涉及一些少數族裔，但他們目前更為關注的是對兒童的保護。
But she tells me she hasn't given up hope of a ban on manga and anime.
不過，她表示沒有放棄禁止這一類漫畫和動漫的希望。
"I want to make it disappear," she says. "By 2020, when the Summer Olympics will take place in Japan, we have to turn Japan into a country which people don't call a perverted culture."
「這些漫畫可以消失，」她說道。「我希望2020年夏季奧運會在日本舉辦的這一年，日本的文化不再被稱為墮落的文化。」
It's a description which supporters of manga strongly reject. But as the Olympics approach, outside eyes will turn to Japan, exerting a powerful pressure for manga and anime to be part of what people see as "cool Japan" rather than "weird Japan".
但是，那些漫畫的支持人強烈反對這種看法。隨著夏季奧運會的臨近，世界對日本的注意日益增加，向日本卡通和動漫施壓，使他們變得是「酷日本」而非「怪異日本」的一部分。
譯/小霹靂 審校/ 編輯/王旭泉