Online China Goes to Japan for Porn

It’s porn. Pure and simple. The quest for online porn satisfies the same itch in Beijing as it does in Boston, Manchester or Melbourne. In China, though, finding it online it isn’t as simple as typing in “Jenna Jameson,” “Bang Bus” or “Japanese Race Queens.” Official scrutiny of naughty net sites is arguably more focused than that of content championed by western democracy advocates, though access to pirated Korean, Taiwanese, Japanese, vintage American and European porn on DVD is usually as easy as a running to the corner shop for a couple bottles of Tsing Tao and some sesame chips.

Quietly, however, in mid-March Baidu, the monster NASDAQ-listed portal, did a favor for China’s smut seekers when it quietly launched a US$15 million Japanese version called Baidu.jp. With its server based in Japan, it allows users from China to access pages otherwise banned by Beijing – images included. “It's just a test version at an early stage, so we don't want to make a fuss about it in the press," Baidu spokesman Xu Jiye, told Shanghai Daily.

On its corporate Website, Baidu explains the company’s mission in lofty terms. “Baidu was inspired by a poem written more than 800 years ago during the Song Dynasty. The poem compares the search for a retreating beauty amid chaotic glamour with the search for one's dream while confronted by life's many obstacles,” the company says. “Hundreds and thousands of times, for her I searched in chaos, suddenly, I turned by chance, to where the lights were waning, and there she stood.”

For those who have found the Japanese site, and the numbers appear to be growing, Baidu has revealed what they want to see. Baidu.jp placed 908^th in terms of overall traffic in Japan last week, according to the ranking site Alexa.com. But nearly 60 percent of those searching were from China. Despite friction over still-festering World War II issues such as the Nanjing Massacre, sex slaves, the Yasukuni War Shrine and unexploded chemical weapons, Chinese Internet users have put aside any antipathy. They like what they’re seeing: Japanese adult video stars in their mostly R-rated glory

Here’s what a few bloggers had to say shortly after Baidu.jp’s modest debut:

Someone calling himself Lu Xinxin trumpeted the announcement at www.lvxinxin.com: “Baidu Japan is good stuff! (Girls, don’t click, neither should anyone under 18!)”

“Baidu Japan is finally online! Liu Xinxin said it’s good stuff. It is, it is! All the search results pop up easily!”

“Is this legal in Japan?” wrote “Kereal” in seeming astonishment.

“I’m sweating!” confessed “Aether.”

“You can put in a few words and come up with this astonishing stuff,” wrote an anonymous poster. “You can tell how good it is by noticing how the female comrades here react to it. It is really very good, but nothing stunning for other countries, especially Japan which has a large, specialized pornography industry. Still this is huge for China!”

”I hope now Baidu.jp can develop a video search engine,” wrote “Ivxnxn.”

There were words of caution, too. “You’re a bunch of idiots!” scolded “Gdgfd.” “After you talk about it here it will probably be banned by the GFW (Great Fire Wall).”