The Tokyo Metropolitan Ordinance Regarding the Healthy Development of Youths was revised in 2010 to add restrictions on the depiction of minors in sexual or violent contexts in manga and anime sold within Tokyo. The revision โ known in shorthand as the 'nonexistent youth' (้ๅฎๅจ้ๅฐๅนด) bill, after a phrase in an earlier draft โ produced major opposition from publishers, authors, and the broader manga industry, and remains a reference point in subsequent debates about manga regulation in Japan.
Background
The Tokyo Youth Ordinance is a municipal โ not national โ statute, enforced by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Earlier versions of the ordinance had already restricted the sale of certain manga to minors. The 2010 revision proposed expanding the ordinance's scope to cover not only what could be sold to minors but also restrictions on what could be depicted in manga at all, focusing on sexual or violent depictions of characters who appeared to be under 18, regardless of any in-story statement of age. The 'nonexistent youth' phrase in the draft refers to fictional characters as distinct from real minors.
The 2010 vote and revision
An initial version of Bill 156 was rejected by the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly in June 2010 after substantial publisher opposition. A revised version, with the 'nonexistent youth' phrasing removed and the regulatory standard narrowed to material that 'unjustifiably glorifies or exaggerates' sexual acts involving minors, was passed in December 2010 and came into force in 2011.
Industry response
Major manga publishers โ including Shueisha, Kodansha, Shogakukan, and Kadokawa โ publicly opposed the revision through the 2010 debate, joined by an unusually direct statement from working manga artists. Several publishers withdrew from the Tokyo International Anime Fair in 2011 in protest, and a separately organised event (the Anime Contents Expo) was established as an alternative. The ordinance's actual enforcement has been more limited than the initial controversy suggested, but the debate remains the most prominent recent Japanese policy event in manga regulation.