TOKYO, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Major Japanese convenience stores will ban the selling of adult magazines in a bid to clean up the country's image ahead of major sports events to be hosted here, local media reported Tuesday.
These events include the Rugby World Cup to be held later this year and the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics Games to be hosted by the nation's capital in 2020.
Japan has been enjoying a significant uptick in inbound tourism of late and the government is looking to the industry in the future as becoming one of the mainstays of the country's economy, as it grapples with a rapidly hollowed out workforce, as Japan's population simultaneously ages and shrinks.
The government of Japan is counting on a surge in sports fans and tourists during the two major upcoming sporting events to comprehensively put Japan back on the map as a destination for travelers and to achieve this, it wants its sleazier side cleaned up.
The banning of the adult magazines is also aimed at ensuring these stores remain safe places for women and children as the reading of the adult magazines in some instances has led to the creation of a hostile environment for customers and workers.
Businessmen can typically be seen flicking through the pages of these pornographic magazines paying little or no regard to the fact there could be young children or others in the store for whom such behavior could be detrimental.
Lawson, who has already taken the step to ban the magazines in Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, said it will expand the ban to cover its 14,000 stores nationwide.
Seven-Eleven, meanwhile, pointed out that stocking adult magazines or not was largely at the discretion of the managers of franchise stores, but that its headquarters will advocate for the stores not selling the racy magazines.
At Seven-Eleven stores, sales of adult magazines comprise less than 1 percent of total store sales, industry insiders said, as the magazines are usually perused by men killing time in the convenience store and not eventually purchased.
FamilyMart Co., for its part, said Tuesday that it had already stopped selling adult magazines at 2,000 of its 16,000 stores nationwide.
