Japan Is One of the Few Places That Treats Fiction as Fiction
The West is going crazy. All kinds of adult content are being censored, and many people are even calling for fictional content to be classified as CRIME. And you won’t believe this, but a U.S. federal court recently ruled that the First Amendment may protect the private possession, inside one’s home, of AI-generated sexual images of minors that do not depict real people.
An American lawyer also explained that loli and shota hentai does not constitute a crime because no real people are involved. And you know what happened? I saw many people getting furious about it. According to them, loli and shota content should absolutely be a crime.
And then, on August 30, a Japanese author published an article on Note discussing how, around the world, “victimless fiction is being banned” through several different means.
Japanese People Are Shocked by the Way the West Treats Fiction as Reality
The article argues that international platforms are increasingly restricting adult fiction involving non-consensual sexual situations, even when all the characters are adults, entirely fictional, and no real person was harmed. The author points out that some platforms have started requiring consent within the story itself, making certain genres practically impossible to sell commercially.
The author questions whether it makes sense to apply real-world concepts of consent to fictional characters and warns that, although these works may not necessarily be illegal, the combination of platform rules and payment processors can effectively eliminate access to the commercial market.
MOST LIKELY, he is referring to what Wattpad recently did
The Wattpad is an online platform for publishing and reading stories, where writers can publish their own work and readers can follow, comment on, and vote for stories. It is especially popular for romance, fanfiction, fantasy, fiction, original stories, and content aimed at young and adult audiences.
The platform allows authors to publish stories for free and build a community around them. Some works can also gain exposure, readers, and commercial opportunities through Wattpad’s ecosystem.
Basically, what happened is that Wattpad updated its rules. Imagine this: you’re an author and you want to publish your web novels. Look at what you
❌ What You CANNOT Post
- Pornography, meaning content created primarily to cause sexual arousal.
- Any sexual content involving minors — zero tolerance.
- Non-consensual sex when it is glorified.
- Glorified sexual exploitation or coercion.
- Incest.
- Necrophilia.
- Bestiality.
- Illegal sexual content.
- Sexual roleplay, sexual solicitation, or sexual messaging.
- Using Wattpad to look for or solicit sexual partners.
✅ What You CAN Post
- Romance and sexual relationships as part of a broader story.
- Suggested or implied sexual content.
- Explicit sexual scenes between consenting adults, as long as they serve a narrative purpose.
- Sexual content can appear in Mature (17+) stories.
- Non-sexual/artistic nudity in images.
You may not have heard about this, but after Wattpad updated these rules, many people were shocked, especially on TikTok, with several videos claiming “Wattpad banned Smut.”
That’s because there are many fans of adult stories like these, and requiring everything to be consensual within a fictional story is not ideal for many people who have fantasies involving more forceful situations.
Japan Is One of the Few Places That Treats Fiction as Fiction
Seeing all this, a Japanese user went viral after saying:
“It may sound shocking, but seriously, Japan is probably one of the few places where many people can actually treat works of fiction as fiction. The rest of the world is still immature in this regard. It really is surprising when you realize it.”
Seeing this comment, a foreigner said that nowadays, many people consider not only a character’s actions problematic, but also the depiction itself, going as far as judging people negatively for enjoying that content. Just look at how many people accuse fans of Mushoku Tensei of being criminals.
As examples, he mentioned people calling Darth Vader fans fascists simply because they like a character associated with the Empire, or saying that Baldur’s Gate 3 players are bad people for having Astarion in their party. According to the commenter, this way of thinking is absurd and delusional.
Another comment that caught my attention was from a Japanese user who said:
“In any case, prejudice, violence, and war are not going to disappear.”
Another said:
“If fiction helps develop the imagination, then taking it away means… If we lose our imagination, we will become slaves who simply follow society, unable to even tell right from wrong… It is like taking away people’s humanity and committing a murder that will only be completed in the future.”