Japan's capital city was expected today to restrict the sale of manga comics and anime films with extreme depictions of rape, incest and other sex crimes, a proposal that has provoked cries of censorship.

The bill requires publishers and shops to sell only to readers over 18 material that depicts "virtual sex crimes" if they are "unjustifiably glorified and exaggerated."

A group of 10 major comic publishers has protested the bill and said it would boycott the biggest industry show, the Tokyo International Anime Fair, to be hosted in March by Tokyo's conservative governor, Shintaro Ishihara.

Manga comics are highly popular in Japan with both children and adults. The graphic novels deal with themes from high school romance to the literary classics – but also with pornography, much of it hardcore and violent.

Japan has long been a major source of child pornography. Although producing and distributing it is illegal, possession is not criminalized, and images of "non-existent" underage characters in manga, anime and video games are legal.

Since the proposal to restrict manga with strong sexual content was first floated in Tokyo earlier this year, manga and anime artists have been up in arms over what they consider a crimp on their creativity and free expression.

In March, a group of cartoonists, including prominent artists Machiko Satonaka and Tetsuya Chiba, protested against plans for a stricter bill to restrict sexual images of characters that people would assume to be underage.

"This would violate freedom of expression," they said in a joint statement at the time.

AFP