Comments on: Geisha “image rights”

By: William J

William J — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:27:18 +0000

I’m not sure you’re right, Anne. Geisha when they are “plain” are normal persons and their privacy has to be respected. But as soon as they are made up and walking in the streets in gorgeous kimono on, they are at work, they go on stage. It’s as simple as that: if you don’t want to be seen, don’t make of yourself a neon sign. By the way, a person can be recognized by his/her face, but who can understand who is under the thick make up they put on their face ? That’s the point. BTW does someone who would wear a mask of Nixxon could wave his “right to privacy”… or would the photographer have to pay some copyright to… Nixxon or the Nixxon’s mask maker ? Undoubtly this “right to privacy” in public places is an insane issue.

By: anne

anne — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:30:04 +0000

i agree with the cartoon the Geishas are just normal human beings at the end of the day and deserve their privacy its sad that they cant go about their work without being harrased and it must be scary for them being grabbed and having cameras shoved in their face they deserve their privacy theirs plenty of fake Geishas going around Kyot iv heard wholl chat to tourists and their so convincing and they will only be too happy to pose for photos but leave the real Geishas alone

By: Justin Leach » Privacy scare after photo of princess posted on the INTERNET

Justin Leach » Privacy scare after photo of princess posted on the INTERNET — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:43:57 +0000

[...] tourism PR magazine published by the Japanese government has comic strips telling foreigners not to violate the rights of geisha by putting photos of them up on the [...]

By: RMilner

RMilner — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:35:24 +0000

People are kidding themselves if they think so-called image rights can be reserved and protected in a world where every 9-year-old has a 3MP cameraphone.

By: Privacy scare after photo of princess posted on the INTERNET | Japan Probe

Privacy scare after photo of princess posted on the INTERNET | Japan Probe — Thu, 28 May 2009 12:59:48 +0000

[...] tourism PR magazine published by the Japanese government has comic strips telling foreigners not to violate the rights of geisha by putting photos of them up on the [...]

By: Steven Fedorowicz

Steven Fedorowicz — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:02:44 +0000

Yes, the Fear… I hear you. And I do not support what the Fear has done to make our jobs whether it be photojournalist or visual anthropologist any easier. But consider the following scenarios:

1) The geisha herself and/or her manager has a web site where they sell photos of geishas. A tourist takes some snapshots and posts them on their Flickr account. Now anyone can do a search, find the Flickr account and either download the image for free or buy it from Flickr. Loss of possible income and loss of control of the image. Under Japanese laws the individual and Flickr do not own the rights to to image and should not be selling the photos. The same holds true if an individual posts such images on a blog that has become commercialized. One can make money on their blog if they allow Blogger to post advertisements so the blog becomes a commercial money-making enterprise.

2) Geisha have obligations to keep certain information about their clients and/or themselves confidential. If a photo of a geisha is posted on the internet (even innocently by a tourist), all sorts of information accompanies it. “Taken by my iPhone at xx:oo on such and such a date.” Locations and other images in the photos can give away certain details. Thus privacy is being breeched.

Are these scenarios so far fetched? Tokyomango has recently started inviting reader photos which might cause may problems. Unfortunately the author has failed to respond to comments.

http://www.tokyomango.com/tokyo_mango/2009/05/reader-photo-unique-trainriding-style.html#comments

I’m not trying to make up rules and/or enforce regulations. These are the current realities out there that need to be considered for the protection of the people we photograph and ourselves.

I hope to hear reactions. Please tell me I’m wrong…

By: tony

tony — Sun, 24 May 2009 02:09:42 +0000

Hi Steven. Point taken about geisha having the same image rights as performers in Japan. But in what situation do they apply? Being in public doesn’t make you fair game for commercial photography in other countries either, hence the ubiquity of model release forms.

But how could geisha possibly claim a web album of holiday snaps or a blog was harming their livelihood? My impression is that this is just a knee-jerk negative reaction to the Internet. David Marx explains it very well. He call it “The Fear”. http://neojaponisme.com/2009/05/19/the-fear-of-the-internet/

By: Steven Fedorowicz

Steven Fedorowicz — Sat, 23 May 2009 17:49:02 +0000

Being in public does not mean all photography is fair game in Japan. Image rights are usually for performers and their mangers who own the rights of the performer’s image. A geisha is a performer and thus is entitled to the same rights as a SMAP member. Commercial photographers beware and take notice. While many have said foreign photographers have never been sued in these instances, there is always a first time… Related to this are the dangerously ambiguous privacy and defamation laws in Japan. When it comes to copyright, you might want to take a look at this website – it is primarily aimed for academics wanting to use visual images in their published works.

http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~ncc/imageuse/index.html

Also of interest might be my own current research on the ethics of photography in public in Japan.

http://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2009/04/shooting-culture-project-ethics-of.html

By: David

David — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:22:55 +0000

Yup, where your company is incorporated makes a big difference. I’m pretty cut and clear on the rules in the states, but no idea about Japan. I would imagine that it’s basically all good until a) you get famous or make money and b) said photographed person finds ya.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 21 May 2009 07:38:13 +0000

To be clear, we had people coming right to us who wanted to take our equipment while shooting when in fact they were not in our camera visions, and this happen at several occasion in Different part of Japan. We had also been instructed at some “event” how to shoot People in certain position and not in others