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of these businesses, but not all, prefer to cater specifically to Japa-
nese men, or foreign men who can fake Japanese well enough to
make easy customers.
Pornography
If you are curious about pornography, Japan is a wild place to re-
search the stuff. You'll find cheap newsprint porn comic books in the
convenience stores, alongside typical pornographic magazines. All
hotels with TV have plenty of porn. And there are plenty of sex-
media shops around town. If you have no qualms about making
horny Japanese men shopping for porn uncomfortable, you are free
to wander and inspect the goods. Tapes of very young girls playing
in the park will be sold near tapes of secret cameras from bath-
rooms and hotel rooms. It's an unsettling world of mediated male
desire unleashed.
Porn in Japan contains plenty of non-consensual sex. Often one
partner involved says nothing much more than stop, stop (yamete).
But while the themes and conduct may seem aggressive, the geni-
tals are typically fuzzed out, pixellated: a striking contradiction,
violence and prudishness.
I.K.U.
An artist Shu Lea Cheang made an unofficial, pornographic sequel to
Blade Runner called I.K.U. In Japanese iku means "to go" and it's
what some Japanese people say when they experiencing orgasm.
The film evolves Blade Runner's teasing replicants into full-fledged
neon night sex warriors engaged in rectum-hunting in beautiful
electric color. Available on DVD in Japan; you might have to special
order I.K.U., or write out the name; it's not a common title in most
video shops, and it's a little too artsy weird for most porn vendors.
Sex Software
Over a quarter of all PC software sold in Japan is pornographic.
Most of this is cartoon anime porn, sometimes called hentai. Wan-
dering around Akihabara looking at software and computer stores,
you'll find that if you walk too far into the corner of a store you're all of
a sudden surrounded by tiny cartoon girls with giant tits - nurses,
schoolgirls, dominatrixes available for conquest on your personal
computer. The games are mostly adventure games, stories that you
play through by multiple choice; if you pick properly you see
Pleasure -