I don't know it is laid out in the very first part of the article. The police started enforcing the law stricter at one point. So some have been heavily censoring to not worry about being in violation of Article 175. While others continue to use the light censoring but yet in a way hoping that Article 175 is not enforced stricter as it has at times. Some are willig to take the chance others are not. Can't really fault either group really.
Article 175 of the Criminal Code of Japan is to prevent the distribution and sale of of indecent material, and its current interpretation includes pornography. This leads to a curious situation in which adult material must be partially censored, usually across genitalia. This law seems to override Article 21, Japan’s free speech law.
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(translator and contributor to
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), explained how the censorship was intended to prevent individuals of being accused of obscenity, even if the censoring was minimal.
“For nearly 10 years, the industry standard was that obscuring the crown of the penis (the part that funnels out near the tip,) and clitoris, and instances of physical contact that constitutes sexual intercourse (i.e. insertions of objects into the vagina or the rectum) would absolve the depiction as being obscene. The police seemed also to reinforce this mantra, as they encouraged censorship of the
kari (crown,)
kuri (clitoris,) and the
setsugou-bu (point of contact) and no more.”
The law also results in other oddities, such as the broadcast version of
Jojo’s Bizzare Adventure
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as he is 17 (Japan’s minimum smoking age is 18). The censorship was done via a heavy shadow across the lower-half of his face.
In 2004, Monotori Kishi (CEO of Shōbunkan) was
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for publishing the hentai manga
Misshitsu, in which
“bodies were drawn in a lifelike manner with little attempt to conceal genitalia, making for sexually explicit expression and deeming the book pornographic matter,” according to Judge Yujiro Nagatani of the Tokyo District Court. He also stated it was
“mostly devoted to undisguised, detailed portrayals of sex scenes,” and that
“no healthy society today could allow” the book.
Kishi was given a one-year prison sentence, suspended for three years. He later appealed to the Tokyo High Court, having his sentence reduced to a 1.5 million yen fine ($13,817 est.). He later took the case to the
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, his attorney arguing that the material was no worse than other adult material that was available. The Supreme Court still
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. The book’s author Yūji Suwa and an unnamed editor were also fined 500,000 yen ($4,606 est.). Yūji also avoided jail time by pleading guilty.
In 2013, three people involved with Core Magazine (including head of the editorial department Akira Ōta) were
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as their hentai manga
Comic Mega Store and
Nyan Club 2 had been insufficiently censored. The production of
Comic Mega Store was suspended indefinitely, and all three men would later
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.
Dan Kanemitsu also notes in his blogpost “
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” that Core Magazine and other adult magazines (featuring hentai and real people) began to censor their work more heavily. He accused the police of enforcing the law far stricter than before, and the implications it could have even in foreign nations.
Can pretty easily tell that some heavily censor so they don't have to worry in anyway of being in Violation of Article 175, while others choose to attempt the light censoring to get around Article 175.