At the Tokyo international film festival on Thursday, the filmmakers Association advocated an anti-piracy policy of blocking websites in Japan, where concerns about the constitutionality of such measures have so far prevented its adoption.

Speaking at a seminar at TIFFCOM’s Tokyo festival market, MPA chief Executive Charles Rivkin noted that Asia Pacific’s box office has grown 44 percent over the past five years to $ 16 billion, but stressed that ” online piracy threatens this industry.”

“The best way to combat this illegal activity … the idea is to ask service providers to prevent access to these websites through a remedy known as site blocking, ” he said. Rivkin also noted that “there have been some misconceptions about blocking the site here and around the world that it opens people up to the fact that their personal information has been breached and shared. But today I want to tell you that this is not the case. Blocking a site just does what the name suggests-blocks illegal sites.” 

Rivkin also noted that 45 countries currently use website blocking, “and it works,” he added, before citing a recent survey in Japan that showed 93 percent of people “are not against the Japanese government taking action against these sites.”

At the 8th MPA-TIFF workshop on Friday, renewed emphasis was placed on blocking the site, with speeches by academics and industry figures, as well as a panel discussion on the topic. 

“The attitude to theft in Japan has historically been very harsh, but piracy is not seen as theft. … We have to close this gap, ” said lawyer Tomohiro Tohyama, moderator of the debate.

Former Japanese Minister of trade and economy and current Chairman of the IP strategy Committee Akira Amari gave a closing speech in which he noted the lack of stars at the opening of the festival the night before, blaming it on the high cost of private jets for Hollywood guests “like Tom cruise.”

Amari acknowledged the problem of digital piracy, but said there was opposition to Japan’s website blocking policy because of questions about the constitutionality of freedom restrictions. 

The head of the Asia-Pacific MPA, Michael K. Ellis, concluded the event with a final call: “I want you to have three takeaways on the site blocking: it works, it works, it works.”

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