Tokyo police have verbally warned the editorial departments of two major weekly magazines to stop carrying pictures of plaster art made in the shape of vaginas because they could constitute the display of "obscene" objects, it has been learned.
Weekly Post carried color pictures of some of the artworks by a British artist and one of the half-naked female models they were based on in its Aug. 17 and 24 combined edition, and Shukan Gendai carried the same pictures in black and white in its Sept. 15 edition and Sept. 22 and 29 combined edition.
The Metropolitan Police Department said the art is no different from vaginas and is utterly obscene. Since the two magazines are widely sold, for example at convenience stores where an unspecified number of people may see them, the MPD said the magazines have "a great impact" on the public, and so summoned chief editors and others from both magazines in September to issue the warning.
Shukan Gendai is published by Kodansha Ltd., and Weekly Post by Shogakukan Inc.
"The works are displayed to the public at a gallery in London. As the artist said he expressed the beauty of the subject matter, we carried pictures of the works to report on the act of expression," the editorial department of Weekly Post insisted. It admitted that it has talked with the MPD, but declined to comment on other questions.
The editorial department of Shuken Gendai said simply, "We have no comment."
Experts are divided over whether the art constitutes an "obscene" object.
Hiroshi Nakasatomi, an associate professor at the University of Tokushima and a constitutional scholar, said certain rules are necessary, even on artwork, when it is explicit and utterly obscene.
On the other hand, Prof. Shojiro Sakaguchi at Hitotsubashi University, also an expert on the Constitution, said: "It is problematic to place restrictions on artwork. There are more obscene comics and videos than there are other works of art. The [MPD's] warning is arbitrary."
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