Censorship in Japan

No this isn't about anything. It's a bullshit post. I just wanted to ask what the fuck was up with Japanese porn.

Here goes: what the fuck is up with Japanese porn? I mean, you can show three-year-olds getting raped by tentacle monsters, but you can't show the last inch of a cock? I've seen everything from private parts completely blurred out to pubic hair blurred but everything else visible to black lines drawn across the base of the glans, but nothing else.

I don't get Japan. I like some of the porn, but I don't get Japan. I went to school with people who were seriously into Japan, always trying to learn Japanese, playing the latest RPG, reading manga, watching anime, that kind of thing. I never got it. But what I really don't get is the censorship. If anyone can explain why there seem to be 75 different ways to censor, let alone the things which are and are not censored, I'm game. Explain it to me.

[Edit: Okay, here's a good example of what I'm talking about. It's hentai, but I've seen similar things in actual Japanese porn, and it was the first thing that showed up when I looked for an example, so I'm going to use it. I think it illustrates quite handily that the censorship doesn't really do much of anything. However, if you're at all interested in reading another thing I found, involving a scholarly discourse on the subject, here it is. Don't say I didn't warn you.]

For the record, I'm sure the Japanese are very nice people on the whole, they make excellent electronics, I like their food, and they are much less inhibited about certain aspects of sexuality which I think is healthy. But there are bad points too, just as with any culture.

Oh, and seriously, Google, get with the program. You're a web-based service whose spellchecker can't spell manga or anime. No wonder no one uses spellcheckers any more. They should though, and if Google would spend more time on its current products than offering new stuff that I don't want... okay, not the place for that rant.