ok, so i've been working on a book design of the series of images i made last summer. i decided to have azukabook.com print it because i thought their Laminate Matte paper and overall presentation of the book was superb. did my 40 page layouts and created my PDF. i uploaded everything and placed my order. my plan was to do a very limited edition of the book for collectors. the quality is outstanding and i'm very anxious to see how it looks.

however, today i got a call from a nice sounding woman at asuka book with some "concerns" over some of the images in my book. apparently, pages 11 and 27 contained photos of exposed women's genitalia. she had to inform me that this is a no-no in japan (where the asukabook headquarters is and where all their books are printed) and that there was a risk that the printers might reject it because of japanese indecency laws. here's a PDF of the book in question:

book.pdf

now, i don't know how many of you have seen japanese pr0n, but man its some seriously screwed up shit. as my pal marcus put it:


"I've seen shitloads of japanese pr0n. Have you noticed that they always block out the pubes?? You can do a video of a schoolgirl getting live eels stuck up her ass while being throat-fucked by a guy in a rubber space alien costume -- but you'd damn well better not show a single pubic hair or square millimeter of genital tissue. Anus tissue is just fine, though it's gotta be hairless.

God makes people move in mysterious ways, don't he?"

and if you want read more interesting stuff, there's actually a wikipedia entry on japanese pornography that might open your eyes. here's just a couple of entries from the sub-genres section of the page:

Broken Dolls This is a sub-genre of the popular 'medical fetish': young girls in hospital beds, covered in casts, splints, gauze, and fake 'bruises.' It usually involves rape and forced bondage.

Burusera - ("bloomers") Fans of this genre collect panties,urine, socks & uniforms of actual schoolgirls.

Chikan - ("pervert") It involves, usually males, who pay 'extras' to sit in a stage constructed to look like a train car and act submissive while being groped.

so, seriously folks... medical fetish, collecting urine, and groping submissive train passengers? that's OK! but a photo of a person in a pastoral setting where you might see a pubic hair... that's indecent!! i've always contended that what i'm doing here is not pornography, but rather photography with serious artistic merit. in the end, the nice lady at asukabook.com told me that they could submit it anyway and just see what happens. i politely told them that if they weren't able to print it that i would have to take my design and my business elsewhere. she politely understood.