Moviegoers in Japan may have noticed that either during the opening or ending credits of a feature film, a mark appears on the screen bearing two kanji enclosed in a circle.
This logo is proof that the film has been rated by Eirin, the Film Classification and Rating Committee, an independent, nongovernmental organization that has been responsible for classifying motion pictures in Japan for the past five decades.
Despite controversy over its censorship of sexually explicit or violent footage, to this day Eirin remains the sole organization handling the task of rating films, and its history mirrors the public's changing attitudes toward what is and isn't socially acceptable.