Japan has won the rights to host the 2020 Olympics, and the country is very keen on doing a great job in hosting the world's biggest sporting event. It is also another opportunity for the perfection-driven Asian superpower to showcase yet again the nation's many remarkable and praise-worthy characteristics and attributes as a country and the Japanese as a people.
Preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have started as soon as it was announced last year in Rio that Japan is to host next. Conscious of its international image, Japan also became even more particular in cleaning up its image ahead of the grand sporting event. One area where Japan has gained notoriety for is the deplorable case of child pornography and exploitation. In 2014, at the height of wide criticisms that the country is lax in protecting minors from sexual exploitation, the government revised the law to make it illegal for anyone to possess child pornography materials.
In a determined bid, perhaps, to continue cleaning up its act, Japanese have arrested six men on charges of child pornography involving the abuse of at least 168 boys, according to Japan media reports on Friday.
Citing police statement, media said the victims were aged four to 13 and astoundingly 100,000 files of child pornography were found on the suspected men's computers. Some of the suspects reportedly worked at camps for elementary and middle school children, while some were even elementary school teachers. In order to avoid being detected and tracked down, the police said the suspects chose to exchange pornographic images directly to those they have transactions with, instead of sending online or digitally.
As much as Japan is interested to clean up its image, it needs to do more to combat child pornography and stop the abuse of children. Recent data from the local police are alarming, victims of child pornography rose to a record of 781 in the first half of last year compared with 384 covering the same period in the previous year, translating to more than double the past figures. Not something to take lightly, in contrast fighting child pornography and stopping child exploitation and abuse should be a battle Japan must wage with the doggedness and clarity of purpose like the Olympic spirit.
