That's not so surprising.
(1) Unicef is a largely American-interest UN body and their mission is to save the world's children. Since Americans view the age of adulthood as being 18 years of age, it's no surprise that the Unicef spokesperson would say what she did. "People under the age of 18" is another way for her of saying "children." You may disagree that they're children just because they're under 18, but that's not the point. The point is, she's saying "Children do not need to make swimsuit gravure photos." This is 100% in keeping with American ideals, and I'll repeat that Unicef is a very American body of the UN. As the Japan Unicef ambassador, what do you expect her to do? Side with the host nation (Japan) or side with her employer? I very much doubt "Agnes Chan" is Japanese (I know, I know, don't say it -- Chinese-American, hah, beat you to it

), so I don't think she's going to want to embrace Japan over Unicef. ^_^;
(2) The professor is correct about the trend. It's disheartening to hear him say that Japan should do it too, but even if he didn't say it that's
exactly what the government is already doing in the first place: hence this very meeting! He was called as an expert testifier by the very people who he endorsed in his testimony. It was just a showy pat on the back by the politicians and nothing more. He's probably one of the representatives' buddies and that dude called on him "for the sake of the Party!" to come and provide his expert opinion.
(3) Nobuta-san is on our side. Too bad we're probably going to lose. [/pessimist]
(4) The LDP is doing exactly what daredemonai has been talking about -- making sweeping generalizations which the SDP cannot challenge without the LDP turning it against their attackers. For example, the LDP says "if the person looks young and is wearing school clothes, it's no good." If the SDP asks how young is young, the LDP can retort, "Why? Are you worried your stash of porn might soon be made illegal?

" Even though the SDP guy may have no porn at all, the LDP can make any attack backfire -- which means the SDP will be too scared to lift a finger, which in turn means the law is going to pass with minimal opposition, and it's going to be a sweeping reform with long arms that reach far and wide. :\