A Case for Mosaic in JAV: An In-depth Opinion. Part 3 of 3

Knowing all this, censorship has been credited as a stylistic element that distinguishes JAV from uncensored content produced in other countries. Early Video Recording technology was first developed and mass produced in Japan, and as soon as the Japanese had access to this type of technology, they were already shooting their own porn with them. Thus the law was quick to adapt many laws to placate the masses. Enter censorship laws (and also, content laws outlawing certain visuals or genres.). The censors started out incredibly obtrusive. At the beginning, they literally erased the genitals with whiteout censors, then the mosaic was so extreme that even non-genitals were mosaiced. But eventually, they adapted to the thinner, specific mosaics that we know today. For a more in depth look at this, these ZENRA articles by Baskerville were translated from Japanese sources, explaining the phenomenon better than I could. Links Part 1 Here and Part 2 Here.

The fact of the matter is that Porn has a certain social stigma behind it. While these actresses do reap the good financial benefits from working in Porn, they also experience life different from the rest of us. This line of work does come with its caveats, disadvantages and extra baggage. While the sight of explicit vaginas may not matter much to the western audience, it DOES matter to the Japanese audience who can get…weird about these things, to put it lightly. Which is why I would argue that censorship, for whatever reason, works as a shield for the actresses to protect them from many mean spirited criticisms that their work might entail. They already have plenty of that, especially in the age of the internet. Just check the comments and discussions. 

Nothing is sacred with the layers of anonymity that social media creates. It might even be worse in the collectivist societies of the East Asian variety. Even on wholesome content, fandoms can get toxic on body image, just check the latest gossip about celebrities, especially on women. Censorship creates a final layer of privacy for them. While we all know what goes on behind the mosaic, the visual effect of having the explicit act blocked does provide some modicum of a cleaner image, like what we see on TV when some terrible news needs to be censored. 

To illustrate this point: Compare two popular actresses of their time. Yua Mikami, who did mostly vanilla work and never appeared in uncensored work, has a cleaner image compared to Maria Ozawa, who did do hardcore work and appeared in uncensored works at the end of her career. Yua Mikami gets to enjoy the fruits of her labor post porn and keep some semblance of her popularity. Meanwhile, Maria Ozawa faded from the spotlight into obscurity(save for a few odd headlines in the Philippines). One thing the two of them have in common though, is that there is no erasing their past from the public eye. They are forever branded as a sex symbol of their time. Now imagine less popular actresses having to deal with worse consequences for the social stigma of their previous work, from which I will spare you the details. Sex work, while financially lucrative, often comes with baggage that would be hard for us, male fans, to imagine. 

My personal interpretation is that censorship exists for this reason, for the protection of the people involved, especially the actresses. Some protections are necessary as the existence of the industry relies on a social contract that allows porn to exist in the first place, so that demand may be satisfied while still being within acceptable conditions for everyone involved. And these parameters are always under negotiation. Actresses have been recently afforded more rights, and the studios have had stronger laws in terms of the content they can produce, as well as making sure that consent between producer and performers are respected. 

The winds of change came subtly. Over time content that normalizes non consent has been slowly phased out of the release cycles of the mainstream studios, and actresses are afforded some power and choice over the types of shoots they want to perform in, their branding, and ultimately their future in JAV. There are even laws towards the right to be forgotten: that the JAV performer can have her previous output be disappeared for her sake. (The effectiveness of making this happen is debatable since things have a way of surviving on the internet). While imperfect, you can tell that there is a degree of respect for JAV stars graduating from JAV towards living a life of their own. JAV stars are, after all, the modern Geishas. And historically, while they were sex workers, they held some reverence and respect. 

Of course, these long opinionated articles will never solve the debate, but I hope that my point of view, as a non-Japanese speaking JAV fan, will elucidate some of the deeper issues surrounding the phenomenon of Japanese censorship. While the debate in the english speaking JAV fandom seems to favor that JAV should uncensor their smut, I hope my arguments show that maybe we are taking censorship for granted. In the end, all we want is better JAV for everyone: the actresses, the industry, and for us, the fans.