Japan's pop culture, from what I have learned of it, is similar to but very different from ours. Friends of mine who work there have said that pornographic magazines can be found in dentist's offices and public transportation. And I suppose most people know about the "love hotels" in the big cities there. There is also a pervasive, inexplicable fetish for the very young.<BR><BR>Japanese who are savvy about American pop culture know the differences. The great manga auteur Masamune Shirow has altered parts of his books, entirely of his own accord, before they were published in the U.S. Because of the different cultural paradigms, the pages he changed would have had a different weight and meaning here than there and detracted from his work overall.<BR><BR>As for who is right and who is wrong, well -- we Americans are a silly people and usually unreasonable in our ideas, one way or other. But that does not mean our underlying concepts are always incorrect.<BR><BR>Women should be safe as men, in a culture, practically and psychologically. Children should be much much safer. This is simply justice and true empathy: Put yourself, O male geek, into the person of a woman, if you can, and see if you would not want most to feel comfortable and safe and productive. Remind yourself, if you can, of what made for your happiest, most contented days in childhood.<BR><BR>Am I, in my thoughts, desires, or actions, taking or giving? is an excellent general moral rule.
