Visitors to Tokyo sex shops may soon find it difficult to buy schoolgirls' used underwear.
In a bid to crack down on juvenile delinquency, an advisory panel to Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara on Monday proposed a ban on the trade of teenage girls' panties at sex shops and a stipulation that books deemed inappropriate for minors to be wrapped in covers when displayed.
The proposal also includes a late-night curfew for people under 18 at karaoke parlors as well as comic book and Internet cafes.
Some of the proposals could be the first of their kind to be introduced through a local ordinance.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to draft a set of major revisions to the ordinance on the upbringing of youth and submit it to the metropolitan assembly in February for deliberations.
Some sex shops in Tokyo allow teenage girls to sell their used underwear directly to customers, who pay as much as 10,000 yen a pair after they are worn by the girls.
The current ordinance already bars children under 18 from entering certain entertainment facilities late at night, but the 1964 legislation does not include Internet cafes and karaoke parlors, which did not exist then.