Randy Cassingham's Blog

Posted by Robin, Ontario on May 5, 2008:

Not only is the child being exploited politically, but in a particularly vile way. Pedophiles of the world have a new poster-girl.

Thank you, Randy, for bringing this to our attention. It will make a powerful case study in my "Social, Ethical and Legal Issues for Computer Scientists" course next year.

Posted by John in Idaho on May 10, 2008:

I am, of course, appalled by this inappropriate use of a young child, but my comment is directed more to Robin in Ontaria, who indicated that she will be teaching a course on the "Social, Ethical and Legal Issues for Computer Scientists" next year, and declared that "Pedophiles of the world have a new poster-girl."

I hope she will look up the meaning of the word "pedophile," before embarrassing herself in an academic environment. Pedophiles, be definition, are aroused only by prepubescent children. Many words could be used to describe Saaya, but "prepubescent" is clearly not among them!

Certainly, "Child molesters" may have a new poster girl, but no true pedophile would give Saaya a second glance, except perhaps out of curiosity.

Posted by Piet Durban, South Africa on May 11, 2008:

In my neck of the woods I understand a paedophile to be somebody that has a sexual interest in a minor, around ten years younger. So a 24 year old, interested in a 14 year old could be considered paedophile. It sometimes would just be easier to accuse them of statutory rape, once it has come to that. Which is what happened in the case that I am familiar with.

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Let's not get too caught up here, especially the difference between the dictionary definition and the medical/legal aspects. It's really beside the point. -rc

Posted by Kiera, Sydney Australia on May 11, 2008:

There is a strong irony that Japan is trying "whitewash war crimes" which include the rape of minors in China by sexually exploiting an 11 yr old Japanese girl.

Though to be fair I am kind of not surprised that there are Chinese men not willing to boycott this propaganda considering the male to female ratio and the prospect many Chinese men face at most likely never getting married. It's one of the reasons for the rise in prostitution in china. So Chinese could be forgiven for being more concerned with breasts than Nanking, considering also many of those men were born a long time after Nanking they don't have as much feel for the pain of the history (though I'd hope there would be Chinese who would dispute my statement).

But to be honest, when I first saw this article, probably because of the controversy in the Australian fashion industry of a fourteen year old model I couldn't help think what is too old? It seems twenty year olds are already too old to be sexy. Why didn't Japan use a twenty year old? Even an eighteen year old. Why is it that we have fourteen year olds modeling clothes for twenty year old women?

I don't know maybe it's just me but I'm constantly seeing young girls advertising things that are ten years out of their age range and can't help wonder why not get a thirty year old to model thirty year old clothing why a fourteen year old?

Are we as a society, that obsessed with youth?

Posted by Joel-Steven, California on May 25, 2008:

I wonder if Miley Cyrus, her publicist, and her father Billy Ray have seen this.

After all, this kind of sexual objectification of youth has worked out so well for the Britney Spears' and Lindsay Lohans of the world....

Posted by Alina, Ohio on August 23, 2008:

Oh, that's horrible. I'm not much older than her, only a few years and I know several girls her age that are just as developed. I hope they never use it to the "advantage" (or in her case, something that's just terrible...) that she is. I understand she's young, but even at her age, I would have never done such a thing. Even if I were as developed as her.

Posted by John, TN on September 7, 2008:

Japan is a nation of 130 million and China is a nation of 1.3 billion. I don't understand why you are blaming an entire "culture" (as you put it) for the exploitation of this girl. It was a cynical internet meme/joke - not propaganda tactic sanctioned by the Japanese government. And why assume that Chinese men are willing to forget what Japan did during the war based on a few comments by Chinese pedophiles on message boards? The US has plenty of child abusers, should this nation be held collectively responsible every time there is porn ring sting? Please stop exoticizing and stereotyping entire races.

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When no one in a "culture" condemns the act once it becomes national news, one assumes they condone it. I still haven't seen condemnation from Japan, and this happened three years ago. -rc

Posted by Ernest - Junee, Australia on January 9, 2009:

G'day,

When reading an article like this we have to take into account the differences between the cultures. The girl is obviously trying to launch a modelling career, and appears to be doing a good job of it, to generate some income (probably to put her through college and uni later). In Japan modelling and nudity are NOT regarded the same as in USA, UK, Australia. Many cultures regards people as adults when they reach a certain stage of physical development, I'm not sure what the situation is in Japan.

What isn't right is the way the government are using her to play politics, but I doubt she's concerned about it as long as she gets very good royalties for the photos.

Can we award the government person who thought of this project the boobie prize?

Posted by Kyon, Montana on March 29, 2009:

well you have to remember japan and other countries around the world are way different than the US. Hell the legal age of consent in Japan is 16 in some districts. Also the USA is one of, if not the biggest prudes in the world. We tend to think are opinions matter more than anyone's. Hey think of it this way at least she is in a bikini with a smile on her face, not naked and getting porked by 10 guys at the same time.

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Yes, I'm quite aware that things are different in different places. Still, she was eleven, not 16. -rc

Posted by Andy LA on April 24, 2009:

I personally think that she should wait until she reaches a more mature age. I don't like this idea at all ,hearing this makes imagine my daughter at only 10 in a bikini and a pervert watching and doing some thing sinful ,so I'm very concerned of this child.

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To regular readers: Yeah, "Andy LA" looks like a moron. But you don't know the half of it! He immediately came back and posted another comment, but using a different name (Arnold -- he doesn't have enough imagination to use a different initial!), a different state (Nebraska), and a different made-up e-mail address, in a sorry attempt to support his own point. He doesn't seem to realize that any site owner has the ability to track the people who post -- he's actually in Irvine, California, using his SBCglobal DSL line to comment. His follow-up agrees that there's some "masterbation" (sic -- and sick!) going on. By the look of his typing ability, I don't doubt it -- looks pretty one-handed to me. But Al/Arnold, decrying it doesn't erase your guilt: it just makes you a hypocrite. Stop lusting after the 11-year-old here (or is it your 10-year-old daughter?) and get some help. And stop pretending that you're someone you're not -- you don't have the brains to pull it off (as it were). -rc

Posted by Charles ,San Diego on April 25, 2009:

Im going to have to agree with Randy ,andy LA sounds like a [pardon my french ] dumbass

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Yes, you are. READ what I said to you on your first post. I could tell you were the same guy without even looking. Now bugger off -- I have better things to do than deal with your pedophillic urges. -rc

Posted by Nick, Aus on June 15, 2009:

The national age of consent is not 16 in Japan. It's 16 here in Australia. In Japan, it is 13.

Yeah, you might say that she is still 2 years shy of the age of consent. But you forget that the age of consent is the age at which a person can legally consent to sexual relations. Not the age at which they can pose completely non-nude.

Australia can get pretty bad sometimes too, but this is a prime example of America's prudish nature and insensitivity to other cultures. Japan is not America. The sooner you learn that, the better.

Posted by James, Los Angles on August 10, 2009:

I agree with what Nick from Australia posted on June 15th, 2009. Americans are all too often notoriously known as the Police of the world (watch Team America if you don't know what I'm talking about). We tend to impose our beliefs and values on other societies even without taking the time to understand the other society. I've lived in Japan, and so I have first-hand knowledge of how different the two cultures are. But we can't ignore the fact (although it makes us Americans very uncomfortable) that we as human men are naturally attracted to women who have matured through puberty, no matter what age they happen to be. The woman's body changes in order to bear children. And as a result, the opposite sex is naturally going to be attracted, and the Japanese society (both men and women) holds less shame about that. In fact, they have much less shame surrounding sex than the rather sexually conservative United States has.

The argument might be made that we as higher beings (now 400+ years beyond the time of Romeo and Juliet) should shame away that attraction. I mean, otherwise, we'd be animals, right?

Now that Saaya is a bit older, she's enjoying success in other ventures such as her musical group "Chase". Further, how is Saaya much different from Miley Cyrus, who at 15 had some rather racy photos taken of her own or, perhaps, the Olson twins or Vanessa Hudgens (granted they were slightly older).

I guess only time will tell if Saaya's really been exploited, as this site purports. One thing you might be surprised to learn is how respectful the Japanese are in sharp contrast to Americans. Perhaps from our perspective inside our disrespectful society... we can't even imagine such a thing!

Posted by Magoichi, Philippines on March 6, 2010:

I'd like to point out that the United States - always the 2-faced Puritan that it always was - is really a "nation" at odds with itself because it's actually a very large country comprising of 50 states and actually many more cultural differences which the federal and state governments try to generalize. Telling the people at one state county to be like everyone else in the U.S. is like telling Japan to be like everyone else in the planet. Truth is, each country is different from each other and each state county different from the others. That's why we have a federal government to "pull" all these cultures together (by force, i mean). The more we forcefully integrate everyone in the world, the more we culturally die as human beings. Maybe we should travel more to exotic places and get to know more about these exotic cultures firsthand and with an open mind. Ignorance is the real enemy here.

Posted by Noi on December 26, 2010:

I love Saaya Irie her very pretty.

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Noi posted from the Lao People's Democratic Republic, more commonly known as Laos. -rc

Posted by --,-- on January 12, 2012:

The Junior Idol culture in Japan is broad and the part that practices the creation of erotic to full-fledged pornography of under aged children is disturbing. The pop-music scene in other Asian countries is similar: young pre-teen to teen girls sing, dance, and are dressed provocatively and sold to a target audience of men 15 years and more older than them. Yet women of age in the same music industries are usually expected to dress modestly and act demure.

I think what makes this interesting is the contradiction of "conservative Asia" that frowns upon questionable western culture yet exploits the young just as much. Some people might argue that it's not as bad as the US market in general, but when children are involved there's no justification for any of it (Cyrus or Saaya). In the end such an issue is not about adults being sensitive to/respecting the cultures or prerogatives of other adults...we should be concerned for the well being of children and the protection/preservation of childhood. But whatever I guess it's perfectly fine to sell our young daughters' bodies and send or adolescent sons to war if that is the culture designed by the perverted greedy old men in charge.

[The past wartime relations of the Chinese-Japanese-Koreans are sordid. The Japanese government has proven time and again that they aren't apologetic. And the Chinese don't have the best track record for their treatment of women and children. The whole world is full of evil doers and hypocrites.]