Adult magazines are about to get much harder to get in Japan.
Whether you’re looking for a pair of spare underwear or you need to fax something, convenience stores in Japan seem to have pretty much anything you would ever need when in a pinch. However, it looks like these same convenience stores are on their way to becoming much less “convenient” for a very specific type of customer: those who like dirty magazines.
On Tuesday (Jan. 22), one of Japan’s largest convenience store chains, FamilyMart, announced that after August comes to an end none of its roughly 17,000 locations in Japan will sell any magazines intended for individuals over the age of 18.
FamilyMart also revealed that since April roughly 2,000 of its locations had already stopped carrying adult magazines.
A FamilyMart representative explained that this move was in order to make their stores more family and foreigner friendly. “On top of continuing our efforts to make our stores a place where women and children can shop in peace, this is also in preparation for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, as well as, the Osaka World Fair in 2025, and other events, which will lead to an increase in the amount of people visiting Japan.”
FamilyMart is not the only convenience store to say goodbye to pornographic magazines, though. On Monday (Jan. 21) 7-Eleven and Lawson also announced that they would only be carrying adult magazines until the end of August. This means that by September the three largest convenience store chains in Japan will be free of adult publications.
Additionally, both the Ministop chain of convenience stores and stores managed by the AEON Group have already stopped carrying adult publications.
No doubt the adult magazine industry is unhappy with this trend. However, what exactly they can do to combat what will certainly be a major blow to their sales remains to be seen. How this will affect the number of vending machines that sell adult publications also remains to be seen.
