Welcome back to the second & final part.
Ken Akamatsu is a vocal advocate for protection of freedom of expression in anime & manga & has been an opponent of government attempts to expand censorship & copyright law. (1/9)
In 2011, he warned that proposed changes to copyright law under the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would "destroy" Japan's derivative doujin scene.
In 2013, as spokesman of the Japan Cartoonists Association (JCA). (2/9)
In 2013, as spokesman of the Japan Cartoonists Association (JCA), he joined other creators in opposing Liberal Democratic Party proposed amendment to Japan's child porn laws, the draft version included fictional depictions such as lolicon manga in its definitions. (3/9)
Akamatsu visited the National Diet and the LDP headquarters to express his concern & the final bill passed in 2014 without a ban on explicit anime and manga.
He was appointed a managing director of the JCA in 2018. (4/9)
In 2019, Akamatsu & the JCA expressed concern on a government subcommittee's plan to expand copyright law, under which downloading or taking screenshots of anime images & illustrations illegally posted to blogs & Twitter would have been made illegal. (5/9)
In 2020, Akamatsu was invited to advise legislators in the Diet on the future of manga, stating that compared to other countries, Japan's forte is its freedom of creativity & that a situation where Japanese works are regulated by foreign standards should be avoided. (6/9)
In December 2021, Akamatsu announced a candidacy in the 2022 election for the national proportional representation block of the House of Councillors under the LDP banner.
He stated that his major goal was to protect creative freedom of expression. (7/9)
On July 10, 2022, Akamatsu won a seat after campaigning in person in all 47 prefectures, becoming the first manga creator in the National Diet. (8/9)
An early initiative of his was a task force on a proposed legal framework for preservation of past and present Japanese video games in a playable state.
As of 2022, Akamatsu's manga have a cumulative circulation of over 50 million worldwide. 🇯🇵 (9/9)
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