Changed my mind about banned books after spending $35 on Lolita in Japan

I was always one of those people who thought book bans were mostly an American thing or a historical relic. Then I went to Tokyo last year for a design conference and wandered into a used bookstore in Jinbocho. Found a vintage English copy of Lolita for $35 and bought it without thinking. Tried to bring it through customs back home and they flagged it because the novel is technically restricted here under some old obscenity laws. Had to mail it to myself through a friend who used a different carrier. It was such a hassle for a single book that it made me really think about how casual censorship still is, just not always in the obvious ways. Has anyone else run into weird customs issues with books or art they didn't expect?

2 comments

2 Comments

wood.john27d ago

Honestly that's wild about Lolita, I read somewhere that some countries still treat that book like contraband even though it's a classic. Tbh it's crazy how one country's banned list is another country's required reading.

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the_wesley27d ago

There's a podcast I listened to that talked about how Lolita's banned not just for the subject but because people think it's trying to justify the main character's actions. The irony is that Nabokov wrote it specifically to make you uncomfortable with that guy's twisted self-justification. Kind of proves how sometimes people judge a book by what they hear about it instead of actually reading it.