Quote - One thing you have to remember is Japan is very much different regarding laws compared to the US.  For example the consenting age in Japan is 12yo.  For the US that is unheard of, but it's how their laws are.  With that said, Japanese art has always been controversial with Lolicon, Shota and the like.  I for one think their art is fantastic but thats just my opinion.  I like the freedom of expression and versatility.   With  their laws the way the are, you can definitely tell that they're more liberal than the US.
Adrian

I'll say!  Or Oz for that matter. I wonder if that 12y old consent law was made by a totally male-dominated law-making apparatus and when it's a left-over from?   Would any mother- in a developed society consider her 12 year old mature enough for informed sexual consent?

Mind you-more often  lately  as young as 14 yolds are making such choices which I think is unfortunate enough. By informed sexual consent, of course I also mean emotional and mental readiness for such a step.

But I'm de-railing the convo,  there's a lot that's interesting in Japanese art to be sure.