And so it begins.
It started in Chiba and Osaka, where convenience stores began covering up adult magazines to “protect” minors from seeing the sexual images.
The clampdown continues anew as Tokyo attempts to “clean up” ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games in the city and the ongoing inbound tourism boom.
Now the Ministop convenience store chain has announced that it will no longer sell pornographic magazines.
Such magazines are a staple of every konbini in Japan, usually tucked away in their own corner.
We hate to say “We told you so” but we actually predicted this way back in 2013.
Well, images like the one below don’t hate our argument — it’s certainly true that minors and the vulnerable will be exposed to content that they probably aren’t ready to see.
Inspired a few complaints from female shoppers, the Ministop ban was announced on November 21st for all its 2,245 stores nationwide. The new policy will be enforced first at branches in Chiba City, where Ministop is headquartered, from December 1st and then at all stores in Japan from January 1st next year. Ministop is owned by the AEON Corporation, which is a retailer specializing in suburban malls and supermarkets. Perhaps it’s trying to harmonize the brand image across the retail group.
So if you’re horny, you’d better go to FamilyMart, Lawson, or the 7-Eleven.
