Amazon Japan Says it is Cooperating With Child-Pornography Investigation

By Megumi Fujikawa 

TOKYO--The Japanese arm of the online retail giant Amazon.com Inc. is cooperating with a local police investigation into possible sales of child pornography, the company said Monday.

"We take this investigation seriously and we are cooperating fully with the authorities," Amazon Japan said in a statement.

"We don't permit illegal items on our site, and we have systems and processes designed to prevent and remove illegal items from being listed. We are committed to enforcing our policies and the law for items listed on our site," the company said.

Police from Aichi prefecture in central Japan raided Amazon Japan's Tokyo headquarters and a distribution center in Chiba prefecture on Jan. 23 on suspicion that its website may have been used by sellers to trade illegal pornographic goods, such as photo books of under-aged girls, Japanese media reported over the weekend, citing police sources. Representatives of the police declined to comment to The Wall Street Journal.

Amazon Japan's guidelines ban sales of illegal adult products and other goods that violate Japanese law, which prohibits child pornography.

A Japanese nonprofit organization called Lighthouse, which supports exploited children and women, said it had warned Amazon Japan about possible sales of illegal goods.

In 2009, Lighthouse submitted to Amazon Japan a list of pornographic photo books and DVDs sold on its website that showed boys and girls between 7 and 17 years old, said Shihoko Fujiwara, director of the organization.

At the time, Amazon Japan didn't respond clearly to Lighthouse about how it would deal with the list, but it stopped sales of about 60% of the listed items after three weeks, she said.

"We explained to Amazon Japan that these photo books and DVDs were considered illegal abroad and wouldn't be traded on Amazon's websites in the U.S. or U.K.," Ms. Fujiwara said. She said she believed the Amazon Japan site still included illegal pornographic items.

An Amazon Japan representative said the company couldn't immediately comment on the points raised by Ms. Fujiwara.

Write to Megumi Fujikawa at [e-mail]

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