A 52-year-old graphic designer from the city of Gifu has been arrested for selling graphic images of nude young girls, police said Thursday in announcing the first arrest involving computer-rendered porn images.

Akashi Takahashi allegedly created and sold nude images of girls based on scans of nude pictures published in magazines.

"It qualified as child pornography because the images were very precise," the police said.

Takahashi was arrested for allegedly creating a computer image in December 2009 that he then sold to another man last December for ¥2,940. Since 2008, he has sold 1,400 images, for which he received ¥2.08 million in total, according to the police.

He has been charged with violating child prostitution and pornography laws. Investigators quoted Takahashi, who has owned up to the charge, as saying, "I thought there wouldn't be any problem as it was only computer graphics."

The current child pornography law does not apply to manga or CG images of children. Also, simple possession without intent to sell or distribute is legal.

During the last Diet session, the Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito and Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Restoration Party) submitted a bill to the Lower House criminalizing possession of child pornography.

The bill does not differentiate between porn featuring real children and images of children if their human rights have been violated. The amendment proposal, however, has drawn fire from the Japan Writers' Association and other organizations as a restriction of freedom of expression.