When I lived overseas, I was surprised that Japan is famous for being a Hentai (pervert) country. Some guy talked me about Japanese porn or anime. I’ve never thought that Japan is a perverted country, but after I lived outside of Japan, I realized that there wasn’t any porn displayed in stores. However, in Japan we can see porn being sold, even in convenience stores. Also, most anime or manga which has erotic scenes, most female characters have big boobs.
Recently, it is becoming very controversial whether or not convenience stores should continue to sell porn. One convenient store-chain, Mini-Stop (2250 shops), decided to stop selling porn.
People comment online about this:
“We can see porn online easily. Actually, I’m impressed by the courage of some people who buy porn in front of female convenience store employees.”
“They don’t need to all uniformly decide to sell or not sell. Leave it up to the franchise owners to decide. If there is a need, the shop can sell. But if another shop’s customers are family oriented, then they should choose not to sell.”
“I’ve never care about it when I was child. When adolescents are going through puberty, it’s ok to be curious. It’s very dangerous that adolescents finish their puberty period without any knowledge about erotica.”
Do you think Japan should reduce selling porn in convenience stores?
I thought that porn sold in combinis was in a plastic sheet. I remember bringing my class of 12 year old pupils to the toilet in a gas station in England and and we queued in front of a row of porn mags…. I don’t mind as long as it’s not in front of my eyes all the time ( since most porn is made for men ) or the eyes of kids.
Some shops have plastic covers, but it’s not for all. England also have porn mags everywhere? Me too. I don’t mind porn as long as it’s not in front of my face or kids all the time.
I’m French and we have a lot of porno mags I think and the covers are quite easy to see.
I visited your blog and I saw you wrote in French! Even though I don’t understand what you write, I enjoyed seeing photos!
I didn’t know that France has lot of porno mags too!
Thank you ?
In Japan not only is porn normalized, but child porn in the form of anime/manga is also. The problem is that men and young girls began to see their position or value when the material is commonplace and not treated as shameful. I lived in Japan in the mid-eighties when the kawaii movement was really kicking into gear and I too being young wanted to morph into a cute being— which by the way was really hard as I was a nearly six-foot foreigner. But still I tried to change my dress, speech and even lost weight to become just 115 pounds and fit the Japanese size M. In any case, it disturbs me greatly that foreigners often dismiss porn and child idolization in Japan as no big deal since the Japanese are (deceptively) polite on the surface. As I dated (and married) Japanese men over many years I can say they are comparatively freaky and have complexes (such as masa-con or mother complexes) and generally like porn a bit more than the average American for example which is my only other reference. Also there is a tendency to be “lolikon” in the original sense in that they prefer underage girls. Child porn was legal up to recent years and in the mid-nineties, the last time I lived in Japan, it was common to see photographic nudes of children on newsstands and flyers in my mailbox. I stand against any normalization of materials that make women or men (and children of course!) sexual objects being displayed in the open as if it is normal in the open market. My personal situation is referenced in “The Six-Foot Bonsai” book.