Tokyo vagina artist claims works not ‘obscene’ in court

TOKYO (TR) – An artist accused of “obscenity” for art works that recreate her vagina said on Wednesday at the Tokyo District Court that she is innocent, reports TBS News (April 15).

“Since my art works are not obscene, they are not a crime,” said Megumi Igarashi, who goes by the pseudonym Rokudenashiko (or Good For Nothing Girl).

In July, Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested Igarashi, a 43-year-old resident of Setagaya Ward, for allegedly for mailing links for the download of 3D-image data of her genitals to donors of an art project.

Igarashi was arrested again in December for displaying a plaster cast of her vagina in an exhibition at an adult shop in Bunkyo Ward between October of 2013 and July of last year.

“It is funny to think that female genitalia is viewed as strange,” she said. “My arrest is unfair, and this trial is an opportunity to look at what is really ‘obscene.'”