The Importation of Contraband Case (輸入禁制品該当通知取消等請求事件) is a Supreme Court of Japan case that resulted in a landmark decision regarding obscenity standards in Japan. The Court held that 1) the ban on the importation of obscene material in the Customs Tariff Law did not violate the Constitution's guarantee of freedom of expression, and 2) the photo book Mapplethorpe did not qualify as obscene under the Customs Tariff Law's definition of obscenity. The case was brought on appeal from a 2003 decision by the Tokyo High Court

Tokyo High Court

is a high court in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The Intellectual Property High Court is a special branch of Tokyo High Court....

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History of case

Mapplethorpe was originally published in Japan by Random House in 1994 without objection from the authorities. However, in 1999 a copy of the book was confiscated from Mr. Takahashi Asai by airport customs officials at Narita Airport.

Supreme Court Decision

Justice Kohei Nasu wrote that the 384-page volume of black-and-white portraits, including 20 close-ups of male genitalia, “compiles work from the artistic point of view, and is not obscene as a whole.”

Impact

Asai called the Supreme Court decision “groundbreaking” and said it “could change the obscenity standard” used for banning foreign films that depict nudity and for censoring photographs in books. The Court's decision was believed to be the first time the top court overruled a lower court ruling on obscenity.

See also

• Politics of Japan
  Politics of Japan
  The politics of Japan is conducted in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, where Prime Minister of Japan is the head of government. Japanese politics uses a multi-party system. Executive power exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in the Diet, with...
  
  
• Japanese law
  Japanese law
  -Historical Developments:Pre-Modern History The early law of Japan was heavily influenced by Chinese law. Little is known about Japanese law prior to the seventh century, when the Ritsuryō was developed and codified. Before Chinese characters were transplanted and adopted by the Japanese, the...
  
  
• Judicial System of Japan
  Judicial system of Japan
  In the judicial system of Japan, the postwar constitution guarantees that "all judges shall be independent in the exercise of their conscience and shall be bound only by this constitution and the Laws"...
  
  
• 2008 Decisions of the Supreme Court of Japan
  2008 Decisions of the Supreme Court of Japan
  2008 Decisions of the Supreme Court of Japan.- References :**- See also :*Politics of Japan*Japanese law*Judicial System of Japan*Landmark Cases of the Supreme Court of Japan...