Major Chinese video-sharing websites are noticeably lacking one country in their categories list: Japan. Sites like Youku, Tudou and PPS have deleted Japan from the list of countries, although you could still search for some videos, if you knew them by name. And the main suspected reason for the deletion? The ongoing territorial dispute between Japan and China over the Senkaku Islands.Netizens have expressed this suspicion because the sites still maintain the same categories as before, with just Japan being the notable exception. It’s being talked about on Weibo, China’s main micro-blogging site and by visitors of the websites. Some have complained that boycotting Japanese videos will not actually bring back Senkaku to China so it’s rather pointless.

Still, other observers say that this move is more about the crackdown on illegal versions of copyrighted videos. The aforementioned websites’ users are notorious for uploading  pirated versions of famous TV shows and movies, although uploading original material is their main “business”. The Tokyo based Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA) has been working hard since 2009 to protect copyrighted materials from illegal uploads. In fact, they’ve required some overseas website operators to delete these illegally obtained materials. From August 2011 to September 2012, they have managed to get 98,913 pages deleted from nine websites (seven of these are Chinese sites) and 96% have been deleted.

Whether the exclusion of Japan on these websites is due to the dispute between the two countries, or simply Chinese websites complying with CODA, it is clear that netizens are unhappy about it and will probably find alternative ways to actually get to watch the Japanese videos they want to enjoy.

http://japandailypress.com/chinese-video-sharing-sites-crack-down-on-japanese-tv-shows-and-movies-0514553