I'd like to remind people that the age of consent in Japan is 16.
(There is still a caveat to that, as the age still varies depending on prefecture, some areas it's illegal when the minor is 15 or younger. Other places it's 18 or younger).
I am in no way condoning, or saying that justifies this. But just consider how in Japan this type of age gap is not considered as socially or culturally taboo as it does for the US/ wherever you may be from ...At least in a fiction standpoint.
The thing is that Japan's original age of consent was actually 13 until 2023. On top of the fact that teen/adult relationships have been a standard yaoi trope for basically as long as yaoi's been a thing, this opens a can of worms of the discourse on how Japanese culture can glorify infantilism.
Don't even get me started on rape and molestation culture in Japan...
I'd like to remind people that the age of consent in Japan is 16.
(There is still a caveat to that, as the age still varies depending on prefecture, some areas it's illegal when the minor is 15 or younger. Other places it's 18 or younger).
I am in no way condoning, or saying that justifies this. But just consider how in Japan this type of age gap is not considered as socially or culturally taboo as it does for the US/ wherever you may be from ...At least in a fiction standpoint.
The thing is that Japan's original age of consent was actually 13 until 2023. On top of the fact that teen/adult relationships have been a standard yaoi trope for basically as long as yaoi's been a thing, this opens a can of worms of the discourse on how Japanese culture can glorify infantilism.
Don't even get me started on rape and molestation culture in Japan...
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/japan-raises-the-age-of-sexual-consent-to-16-from-13-which-was-among-the-worlds-lowest