Japan limits scope for illegal downloads of copyrighted work

The narrower, the better. If they forget all about it, the best.

Again, unless they are planning on actually enforcing any of these "laws" they will probably have more harm than good. With bootlegged music for example, you could find hard copies in almost every music store a decade or so back in regards to Western music at least. It didn't seem like the gov't gave much of a toss at all about it then. Of course now it is much easier and cheaper to download bootlegged records and the only difference is you are hurting the bootleggers themselves too (if actually anyone). I wonder why the seeming change of heart? Is the oft-repeated word in this article "manga" a clue as to why this recent interest in copyright law I wonder? I really don't know

It wants to punish serious offenders...

Define "serious".

Well, I hope the Japanese industry understands that it cannot allow itself to be deceived by the US. Media industry, and subject itself to the interest of big streaming companies like Netflix or Disney+, to whom the easy and sometimes free access to Japanese media content is a competition and hurts theire business, on the other side of things... JAPANESE MUST REALIZE that theire not partners to Hollywood, theire its rivals and given the chance Hollywood will do everything to limit the reach of Japanese made content on the global audience, and replace Japanese made content with the US made content and US premium services, copyright censorship is a good means to achieve that goal not just in the US but also in Japan, do Japanese want to live in the world where corporations like Netflix decide what they can post online and share with the world.... I personally like Touhou Doujin manga's the only problem is I can only read them in English through a fan scanlation that is uploaded on some "pirate sites" unlike One piece it will never be legally released outside Japan, because its scope is too tiny, so it's an example of one work, which if not for some design fans would not be preserved at all and would eventually dissappear, there's a lot of under invested user generated or simply official mainstream that because of its age becomes forgotten, and Japanese need to either create a legislation that won't hamper with "pirating" such works or perhaps create your own services that will allow downloading such works not just in Japanese but also in English especially if it's determined that making these works freely available to the public is in the best interest of the publishing companies themselves as it gives s demonstration of the Japanese media corporations philosophy and enlarges it's influence not just on the Japanese but oversea audience even in regions like North Korea, where legal distribution is impossible. It should be services mandated and controlled by the government that would offer an selection of Japanese content for both the Japanese audience, and overseas one (in English... You could even use the fantranslations themselves)

If companies don't translate to English, then the person or persons who have translated have altered the production enough for fair use, IMHO.

If it is illegal as it is, it is a road to jail, anyone knows, but how can the that Mr. Abe with many scandalous affairs and he is still there with his Sakura meetings or many politicians do what they want to do if it's not to be discovered or disclosed. No brave media to confront that one wing tendency of "Bravo" Abe long life I feel suck and sick.

In the 1960s and 70s, Japanese firms photocopied legally and illegally as much as they could of Western materials, in their thirst for knowledge, as their industries expanded globally. I knew of one Japanese drug company whose materials in the 1990s still bore a US firm's logo and publication code. Ironic now that they seek to impose restrictions on downloading, the modern equivalent!

Sorry lawyers, those "losses" are a lie as you can't claim 100% sales. People uses piracy when they're cheap or broke. They may not have the actual means to pay. Also most manga is not sold outside Japan, so you can't claim piracy when you don't even sell it. They should put up their own portals and make money even if they did they wouldn't be able to sell at the stand price