Japanese tourist imprisoned in Australia over child porn possession

16 months only? Should be at least 20 years.

Oh he is nearly my age (I am 27) and how a person can enjoy the sexualization of little kids is beyond my imagination. Perverts like these leave me speechless.

Is it common practice for Customs to check on travellers smartphones?

He got off pretty lightly. Keep that filth in Japan where you can possess it.

The Australian Associated Press gives this fellow’s name and provides photos of the border guard examining the phone, as the perpetrator’s travel companion looks on. The Australian Border Force actually has the video of the incident on its website. Simply comparing reporting differences, making no judgements.

He got off pretty lightly. Keep that filth in Japan where you can possess it.

@dothehustle That's exactly the issue, isn't it? "Different" moral compass. Filth is exactly right.

and IMO it's not a huge leap from promoting idol culture, with its sexualization of the underaged, to tacitly condoning this sort of deviancy. If you want to start tackling this issue somewhere, that's where I'd start. 'If' you want to.

The convicted man is Kobayashi Masahiro, a 31-year-old employee of a subsidiary of Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO.

It isn’t common practice to check phones or laptops but they had a tip off from Canadian authorities .... all from NHK’s website. So I think its safe to post here.

Is it common practice for Customs to check on travellers smartphones?

According to the Australian AP, the perpetrator was randomly selected for a baggage examination. I guess that includes phones.

He’s going to know how it feel to be abused while he’s in the nick, karma.

MASAHIRO KOBAYASHI, 31, pleaded guilty to attempting to import child abuse material and was sentenced in the WA District Court on Tuesday. https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/tourist-jailed-australia-1000-child-porn-videos-042441422.html

I, too, was surprised to hear customs going through digital data. I guess if you're going to carry "sensitive" data, you aught to take steps to hide it properly.

As a matter of fact child porn wasn’t prohibited in Japan until 2014! That’s how people know Japanese men ( not all but many because demand was high until 2014 ) like child porn. The idolizing of underaged young girls also contributes hugely towards this mind set! There is no denying this!

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27898841

https://time.com/2892728/japan-finally-bans-child-pornography/

https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSL4N0OY1SL20140618

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/09/10/national/crime-legal/number-child-pornography-victims-hits-record-high-japan/#.Xs7_IiX3WEc

I understand everyone's outrage - the sexual abuse of children is always unacceptable - but it's important to remember that Australia's anti-child pornography laws are among the most peculiar and poorly written in the World.

I don't know the details of this case so I can't comment on it directly, but I do know that the laws in Australia are so broad that you can technically be charged with possession of "child pornography" for having a picture of a 20 year-old woman dressed as a school girl – even if it is just a drawing. Manga that are completely legal in Japan would get you convicted in Australia.

Furthermore, the State laws of consent vary over there (16 in some States; 18 in others), but anti-child pornography laws are Federal (18) and apply all over the country. In Victoria where I lived I could legally have sex with a 17 year old, but if I filmed the act, took photographs of it, did drawings of it, or even described it in my diary, I would be guilty of producing “child pornography” and could wind up in prison! Pedophilia is abhorrent, but no one is going to convince me that a 17-year-old and a 7-year-old are in the same category when it comes to sexual consent.

Protection of children from sexual abuse is vitally important, but in Australia they seem to have gone overboard in the writing of these laws. As I said I don’t know about this case, but I know of others where people’s lives were utterly destroyed – sometimes literally – for doing things that do not amount to genuine child abuse.

Even mainstream news wouldn't mention it here.

Strangely, I can't find any mention of it on mainstream Australian news either. It may be that the material was on the lower end of the scale for that stuff in Australia.

As I said in my earlier post, even pictures of legal-age models who look under-age (18) or where attempts have been made to make them look younger are illegal in Australia, but the courts will sometimes give lighter sentences for that kind of material.

Whether he enjoys watching it or not is not mentioned, but someone was maybe going to pay him a lot of money for this, and that is probably where his expectations lay, so I guess at the very least the content didn't bother him overly much. A mule?

Nothing worse than the sexual exploitation of children. This filthy POS got off lightly.

So what’s the acceptable age to be depicted?

Note to Japanese men - DO NOT GO to Commonwealth countries carrying "sensitive data" like these if you can't into IT OPSEC or even know basic terms and principles behind VPN, TOR, PGP, Cloud, Tails, QubesOS etc. Unfortunately most Japanese were not regimented in using PC like its Asian neighbors.

why do I sense some backdoor defence of the man with that long winded explanation of Aussie laws, and how complicated they are?

Because I know of people whose lives have been ruined and who even committed suicide for being labeled as 'pedophiles' when they were nothing of the kind - even two 17-year-old teenagers in a relationship who ended up being convicted for sending private sexts to each other. It might suit your faux sense of "moral outrage" to rail against anyone and everyone the police target with this kind of charge, but personally I'm more interested in actually dispensing justice - not to mention actually targeting REAL pedophiles.

And in case you missed it, I specifically stated that I was not commenting on this specific case - perhaps English is your second language?

He wasn't arrested for a 20 year old dressing up blah,blah blah as you said,but for more yucky stuff.

And you know this how exactly? Were you there? Did you have access to his phone?

Only people that way inclined could defend that.

And here we have the predictable knee-jerk response to anyone who tries to introduce some sense into this debate - an attempt to smear me as a pedophile - proving conclusively that the only response someone like you can manage in a debate of this kind is an attempt to shut down any opposition. Thank you for proving my point so very well - and we can all rest more easily tonight knowing that YOU are not in law-enforcement.

As a matter of fact child porn wasn’t prohibited in Japan until 2014!

There are a couple of qualifications to that. On one hand, the act of possessing child porn was only criminalized in 2014, but the production or distribution of it was made illegal earlier (1999, which is also relatively late compared to other countries).

On the other, Japanese law even today doesn't prohibit some things as child porn that other countries do. Particularly manga and anime aren't covered.

So its possible that whatever this guy had on his phone was legal in Japan, but illegal in Australia (and most other countries).

oldman_13: "16 months only? Should be at least 20 years."

Yeah, but be happy he was caught and will be sentenced there. In Japan he would get nothing because possession of child pornography is still not illegal... or at least, not punished. Production, spreading, and sale of it have only recently been made illegal.

So its possible that whatever this guy had on his phone was legal in Japan, but illegal in Australia (and most other countries).

Which, absolves him not at all.

Gotta check the rules of the country you're entering.

Which, absolves him not at all.

> Gotta check the rules of the country you're entering.

I did NOT say it absolves him of anything. I was illustrating how out of step with the rest of the world Japanese law was, not defending this idiot.

Potential monster, JP to be careful after his return,

why no name?

He got off too lightly but his cellmates might make him comfy.

In my home city we have a former TV meteorologist who will get sentenced tomorrow for owning 16000 images of kiddie porn and snuff. And singer R Kelly has at least 10 pedo/rape/sex assault + battery charges in three different cities each, AND kiddie porn charges.

Absolutely sick, revolting, warped, disgusting people!

Do the crime, do the time.

I wonder why some people defend pedophiles? It is what it is. There is no gray area. No twisting of the facts. If you play with fire, you might get some on you.

Is it common practice for Customs to check on travellers smartphones?

They probably found illegal pornographic material in his bag, which gave customs a reason to believe that he may have stuff on his phone too.

I always find it interesting how JT will name a victim or someone accused of a crime without a second thought (a huge invasion of privacy), but often doesn't name convicted perpetrators...

AgentX

It seems that the protection of the perpetrator, is a Japanese. I see it all the time; they'll cover or mosaic out the perpetrators face. IMO, the perpetrators' names and faces should always be publicly shown

AgentX

It seems that the protection of the perpetrator, is a Japanese. I see it all the time; they'll cover or mosaic out the perpetrators face. IMO, the perpetrators' names and faces should always be publicly shown

@Mirai

Unless they are not Japanese!

Ok , well deserved.

I am just still curious how can the customs, not the police with a warrant, can require you to show your digital content.

In that case, I would not personally accept because I don't want to show my intimacy with my wife to strangers for example.

It means that Japan would not accept to arrest him if given evidence from abroad.

So it seems the case about the leniency of Japan about pedopornography compare to some other countries.

It shall have been Japan to monitor his behavior and arrest him when exhanging or downloading it, not a break of the law about your intimacy.

Exactly the same as opening letters that don't belong to you.

If there was already evidence, he should have been jailed on the spot.

Good riddance if he is a real pedo (under 15 ?) and then 16 months is not enough IMHO.

I wish people would stop tossing the word “pervert” around like they have the right to make that call.

Many publications that are illegal in other countries are legal in Japan

Gotta know the laws of the countries you're visiting

And that includes data saved in your laptop (they can ask for you to put in your password to unlock it)

Many publications that are illegal in other countries are legal in Japan

Thank goodness!

It wasn’t a random check of his phone...They were acting on a tip off from Canadian authorities.

And that includes data saved in your laptop (they can ask for you to put in your password to unlock it)

Maybe, but a careful person would keep sensitive data in the cloud under password. No data is stored on the device. Still, some of these guys have literally terabytes of data, which is pretty scary...

Bugle Boy of Company BToday 06:52 pm JSTI wish people would stop tossing the word “pervert” around like they have the right to make that call.

Pervert = pedo = kiddie porn fan = sick scumbag. What's your word of choice? There's no getting around it. Such people are disgusting/abhorrent/deplorable/twisted/uncouth/take-your-pick. Any word you like.

How does the Australian government, or others, determine the age of an anime character?

You'd think by now people traveling internationally would know to have clean devices for travel.

Heck, I check to remove my OTC decongestants from my bags when traveling to Asia (most of the time) because they aren't legal there. Sadly, it means having to use drugs that don't work nearly as well FOR ME to prevent the symptoms.

If you only protect your computers, phone, online accounts with a password, then you've already failed the security check. Two-Factor authentication has been around a long time. It works. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/05/choosing-2fa-authenticator-apps-can-be-hard-ars-did-it-so-you-dont-have-to/ that article has options for everyone by a respected security guy.

Storage encryption is pretty easy these days too, but it is best to have a clean device. Be careful using any flash or SSD storage. Forensic techniques can pull data from multiple wipes off those storage devices. Deleted and wiped 5 times isn't sufficient for a team determined to go deeper.

I wonder why some people defend pedophiles? I

I wonder why some people defend thought crime? A longing for a return to McCarthyism perhaps? If you cannot blithely and falsely declare someone a homosexual or commie to destroy them for jollies, I guess we need this new "pedo" label?

Still, some of these guys have literally terabytes of data, which is pretty scary...

Scary data? Yes. His phone had to put in a special box that would contain a virtual explosion virulent child porn!

Real nasty things are happening to real living kids and most of what I read suggest its all getting worse. The focus on "data" does not seem to be helping at all. Someone make a wake-up call to Ashton Kutchter please and get him to wake up the Aussie authorities. Oh, never mind. He makes money off that.

Australia border force will check passengers' mobile and laptop at the Airport. So you must delete all child pornographic videos and images on Mobile phone and Laptop if you intend to bring Laptop and Mobile phone, and other digital storage devices. Also, you must not bring Marijuana, Cocaine, Heroin, Crystal methamphetamine and other hard drugs into Australia. You won't escape from Australia border force. There are some Japanese national in prison for drug importation charged. One young heavily pregnant Japanese woman was arrested at Airport. She said her boyfriend African national asked her to deliver bags to his friend in Australia and she does not know what was inside the bag. Also, a 62-year-old Japanese woman was arrested for attempted to import two kilograms of methamphetamine concealed in binders at Sydney Airport last year.

https://newsroom.abf.gov.au/channels/NEWS/releases/japanese-national-arrested-at-sydney-airport-for-alleged-drug-importation

Deported to where ??? What country really wants him ??? If Japan is willing to take him back I hope he's put on a Child Predator list, made to register as a Sex Offender and ordered to stay away from children. Most of all I hope he's punished in prison.