Japan's National Diet Library has restricted public access to 120 publications in its collection to avoid violating a revised law against child pornography.
It is the first time the library, located in Tokyo, has limited access to such a large number of books since it was founded 57 years ago, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Wednesday.
The library legally owns the publications and has made them available to the public as a rule. However, last year the law regarding child prostitution and child pornography was revised, outlawing access to books containing pornographic images of children.
The anti-child pornography law came into effect in 1999 and it was revised in July last year, broadly prohibiting the possession of child pornography.
After checking its stock, the library placed certain publications under restriction. Those who wish to look at those publications must provide their name, address and reason for the request.
Asked whether allowing people to browse through the books violates the law, a library official said the library had to be cautious, but it could not judge books to contain child pornography unless a court had so ruled.
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