Mapplethorpe Photos Not Obscene, Japanese Court Says

TOKYO—Nude photographs by the late American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe are not obscene, Japan's top court ruled February 12. The decision reverses a lower court ruling and orders customs to lift a ban on bringing a Mapplethorpe book, "Robert Mapplethorpe" into Japan, Agence France-Presse reports. Takashi Asai, a Japanese publisher, had filed the lawsuit in 1999, after the book was seized when he tried to bring it from the United States for personal use. At the time, the Tokyo High Court said the book, which includes images of male genitals, went "against good sexual morality."

However, the Supreme Court decided "the book and pictures do not fall into a category that would disturb the public," according to Kohei Nasu, the presiding judge. "It would be difficult in the eyes of readers to consider the book to be sexually arousing in its entirety."

Asai, who is also a distributor, said he hoped the ruling would make way for more artistic freedom in Japan.