Okay. So as we know, a sizable number of Japanese cartoons have violent and/or sexual content, so much so that American carriers of anime find it necessary to edit out the violence and sex because American researchers believe that violence on TV desensitizes people to violence in real life and causes it in some cases. My questions to you are as follows.

1. Do Japanese children even watch anime, or do adults, or do both?
2. If children watch, are they becoming desensitized to violence? (I have heard no stories similar to the ones we hear about people blaming their violent acts on movies and video games coming out of Japan.)

I might edit this later if I forgot something, but I have to go to school now.

There are no more violent or sexual anime's then there are violent or sexual live action films in america. And yes, there are plenty of anime for children, and not any more violent or sexual then american childrens programs, Although the japanese censorship seems to be more lax. Let's take the best example, pokemon. An animé meant for children and was brought over to the states with very little edited out. As far as I know only a couple of episodes have had any episodes, one where James had fake breasts (It was all very comical) and another where Ash goes to the Safari zone but I have no idea why that one was cut... I think it had a gun in it.

My point being that children in Japan aren't subjected to violence any more then in America... hell, have you seen one of those batman cartoons... pretty dark for a kids cartoon in my opinion. There are a lot of rumours of children's programs being more violent which simply is not true... but there are more 'cartoons' that include violence... but they are not meant for children (much like south park).

My knowledge is quite limited though...

Actually, there is.

A Japanese TV station, Asahi, won't allow blood to be shown in any of the animes it decides to air.
There's censorship, just not what you'd see in the US.

The thing is, political correctness in this country is so much more overblown than in Japan, where anime is seen as entertainment and leisure as opposed to 'something we're exposing our kids to'.