Don't go looking for titillation at your local convenience store.
As reported last month, Japan's three largest convenience chain operators — 7-Eleven, Family Mart and Lawson — are planning to halt sales of pornographic magazines nationwide by the end of August. While the operators pointed to their increasingly diversified customer base as a reason for ending sales, the large number of foreign visitors expected next year for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics is also said to have contributed to the move.
Pornographic material has typically been displayed in convenience stores in a separate section, with outlets in some areas using plastic string or gummed tape to prevent browsers from flipping through the contents and possibly annoying other patrons, especially minors.