Amazon Axes Japanese Video Game that Simulates Gang Rape

A video game created in 2006 by the Japanese software company Illusion studio is at the center of a growing furor over sexually explicit products being created and distributed from Japan. The game, titled "RapeLay," is a simulation that lets players stalk and terrorize a grown woman and her two teenage daughters by committing acts such as groping them on a train, attacking and gang raping them, and then forcing them to have abortions. Until February, the game was available on Amazon, via a third-party seller who specializes in sexually explicit animation products created in Japan. After complaints from site visitors, Amazon removed the game from its various websites, saying that they had determined they didn’t want to sell that particular item.

Civil rights groups and government officials i are speaking out and condemning the game. According to The Belfast Telegraph, Labor MP Keith Vaz issued a statement saying that the Amazon listing was shocking. "It's intolerable that anyone would purchase a game that simulates the criminal offense of rape," Vaz told the paper. "To know that this is widely available through a major online retailer is utterly shocking. I do not see how this can be allowed. I will be raising this matter in Parliament and hope that action is taken to prevent the game from being sold."

Equality Now, a rights organization based in New York, has launched a campaign against games that simulate rape and support the "normalization of sexual violence" in Japan. The group’s website urges activists to write to Prime Minister Taro Aso of Japan to protest the game and argue that the game conflicts with the obligations Japan must honor under the 1985 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

In response numerous complaints, the Japanese software industry group the Ethics Organisation of Computer Software has issued a ban on computer games featuring simulations of sexual violence against women. The group said it has considered controlling such content for some time because the theme of such games deviates drastically from the social norms of Japanese culture. The group already screens most computer games containing adult content, and about 90% of software products have rating stickers issued by the group.

The group intends to ban all software that glorifies sexual torture and set definitive guidelines about which content should not be permitted into retail stores. However, the ban is a self-regulation initiative that has no legal consequences and retailers can sell whatever games they want to, but the ban on "RapeLay" is expected to discourage many retailers in Japan from carrying such video games.

Japan is often criticized for being a major producer and distributor of child pornography. In 1999 Japan’s government banned the production and commercial distribution and usage of videos, sexual photos, and other sexually-oriented materials that depicted children under age 18. However, the law did not make it illegal to possess such materials and the ban did not cover child pornography included in computer graphics and animation. According to a UNICEF committee on Japanese affairs, the loophole in the government’s ban makes it difficult for international investigators to do much about child pornography coming from Japan. UNICEF says that because of the global marketplace connected online, even one small loophole can jeopardize any regulation worldwide, while countries around the world are trying to ban access to child pornography. A spokeswoman for the gender equality bureau of the Japanese government said that while her office recognizes the problem, they are "studying what can be done" about it.

In the meantime, Illusion, the Yokohama-based manufacturer of "RapeLay," scoffs at all the fuss. "We are simply bewildered by the move," said Makoto Nakaoka, an Illusion spokesman. We make the games for the domestic market and abide by laws here. We cannot possibly comment on (the campaign) because we don't sell them overseas." Other games designed by the studio include the titles "Artificial Girl" and "Battle Raper."