The uproar over the Japanese rape simulation game RapeLay, which we covered in February, has made its way to the manufacturer Illusion, and spokesman Makoto Nakaoka is rather baffled by the reaction. This week the New York- based Equality Now launched a campaign against the game and "the normalization of sexual violence in Japan," citing Japan's obligation to the 1985 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
To recap, RapeLay awards extra points for stalking women, raping virgins and their mothers, impregnating rape victims, and forcing them to get abortions.
What's not to love about that, right Makoto?
Here's what he had to say in response to the protests.
"We are simply bewildered by the move...We make the games for the domestic market and abide by laws here," he said. "We cannot possibly comment on (the campaign) because we don't sell them overseas."
That may be true now, but it wasn't last February, when the game was being sold internationally on Amazon.com. (It has since been pulled.)
Japan has previously been under fire for not banning the posession of child pornography, although the production and sale of such was banned in 1999.
There is a gender equality bureau which recognizes a problem is there. "The office is currently studying what can be done," a spokeswoman said.
They might want to get on that a little faster.
Related:
Rape Simulation Game: Wheee!