The legal landscape regarding digital piracy, especially in Japan, has become increasingly strict. As of January 2021, Japanese copyright law was revised to criminalize the downloading of any copyrighted work, including "manga, novels, photographs, and academic papers," if the user knows it is a pirated copy. While enforcement on individual international downloaders is rare, the law itself underscores the severity of the issue. A government information site clearly states, "Downloading while knowing it is a pirate copy is illegal!".