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Warning for Traveling Otaku in Canada: Beware Customs

Added by gia manry on Dec. 31, 2008

14 comments

Uh-oh, eh?

Danny Choo has spotted word that seems to indicate that Canadian customs is blocking the importation of hentai manga and other materials from Japan, and direct word from someone who actually brought manga-- non-hentai manga –through customs and was treated poorly by the officers.

As more and more officers were called in, the six manga books I had were examined in detail. They were looking, they told me, for pornographic, obscene and adult material. “The age rating is on the back of each book.” (each manga book has ratings like 13+ or 15+ - mine were 13+). I was informed that I could have put different covers on or done anything else I could to get the pornography in and that if I spoke anymore, the books would be seized. So I stood there and watched my previously new books get examined page by page, thumbed through and pressed open because it was assumed if I read manga, that I was a sex offender.

It's pretty awful to hear, and the victim goes into great detail about the history of the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) and their history of seizing books. So Canadians and travelers into the country, be careful what you carry in for the time being. I have an e-mail out to the CBSA to see if I can get any comment on what their official stance/policy is for manga.

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14 Comments

yuricon
on Dec. 31, 2008

It's been well known in the GLBT publishing world that the Canadian customs officials are completely out of control and have been for over a generation. They seize and destroy GLBT themed books without cause, they harass bookstores and hold their shipments indefinitely. There's no one to oversee them and hundreds of lawsuits against them. No one in the Canadian government has seen fit to address this issue. Nor will they, because they confine themselves to looking for "obscene material" which we all know is bad....

gia
on Dec. 31, 2008

This is really awful. Has it just been impossible to get citizens together to protest or petition or write their representatives or whatever?

SimonJones
on Dec. 31, 2008

To echo yuricon, this isn't new (the post he referenced was made in 2006).

Canadian customs operate with little oversight, employ arbitrary enforcement which differs from province to province, and act in open defiance of Canada's own Supreme Court. Agents apply obscenity standards which are lower than that of Canadian law, meaning material which would be legal inside Canada may still be seized at the border. But Canada gets free healthcare, so it's a wash.

Seriously, look at the beady smirk and the molestor mustache on the agent to the right. I wouldn't leave a kid with that guy.

Agent_Lost
on Dec. 31, 2008

as a Canadian, i field ashamed

OkazukiIchigo
on Dec. 31, 2008

That never happened to me when I brought "that" type of manga, customs back to Canada can be a pain.

And please no Canadian jokes....

hazelnutman
on Dec. 31, 2008

I'm Canadian, and I can't help but to shake my head in disgust.

Remind me to ship everything to myself via secret underground postal services when I get back from Japan.

Pyro
on Dec. 31, 2008

Ugh, even more overzealous people pushing their ideals on others. We need moral laws for a reason, but we're talking about manga here (hentai, or not).

On a side note, this article's picture made me laugh.

Lunarmoth
on Dec. 31, 2008

Canada, what the hell! This sounds like a uptight thing us Americans would do instead of you Canadians. But now that the pieces are set I can see a way to make money off this. O if it was only that easy to make cash (no really I need money).

MoonStorm
on Dec. 31, 2008

Well that no good the sad thing is they probably do the same things in the states.

Chicken008
on Dec. 31, 2008

...WTF, why aren't like officers at comic shops and book stores then?

Sigue
on Jan. 2, 2009

I feel bad for the customs workers. Let's face it - if you lived in an igloo you'd be pretty disgruntled too, especially if the hockey game was canceled. If I was Canadian, I would import manga during the summer month, when the customs officers are likely to be a little more pleasant.

Lemegeton300
on Jan. 2, 2009

this kind of thing disgusts me. people like that have such a stereotypical view of the world and other cultures

Damnation_Lee
on Jan. 3, 2009

Ya well personally F**K Canada. They're just pissed because they suck and don't ever do anything relevent to anything. I'm mean if they disappeared then nobody'd even notice.

HeeroYuy
on Jan. 4, 2009

As it says in their pledge, "Oh Canada..."

lol

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