I found a screencap of the story from the JCP’s newspaper on a JCP member’s blog. Did my best job to grab, order, and correct the text (I wasn’t super sure what order to read things in so I apologize if it’s a bit disjointed, but Google had zero fucking idea, and the quality is kinda shit) I’ll include a lightly-edited DeepL machine translation as well as the original text (please point out any transcription errors!). Not entirely sure if this is the whole story–seeing as it’s a front-page story, there might be more, but I have no way of accessing the full issue.
Full text (DeepL Japanese-to-English machine translation)
(Newspaper dated 23 February 2024)
Convenience Store Sales of “Adult Magazines” Revived
One of the headlines on the cover encourages sexual crimes
New Women’s Emergency Survey confirms 95% of stores
[Image of 7-Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart signs alongside blurred-out adult magazines]
Signs of convenience stores and magazines sold at those stores (image partially edited)
[In the center of the article: ] Respect for women’s human rights | Companies questioned about their attitudes
An emergency investigation by the New Japan Women’s Association (NJWA) has revealed that the sale of “adult magazines” at convenience stores, which once disappeared, has returned. (by Hiroshi Nikuma)
The NJWA surveyed 517 convenience stores in the prefecture from December 10 to 12 last year, and found that 95.4%, or 493 stores, were selling the books, with the covers of the books featuring such titles as “molester,” “peeping,” “sugar baby” and “runaway girl,” all of which are unacceptable even for adults and which remind people of sex crimes, prostitution, and child prostitution.
Concerning the sale of “adult stories” in convenience stores, Aeon-affiliated Ministop announced in 2017 that it would stop selling them in response to requests from female customers and others. In addition, 7-Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart all decided in principle to discontinue the sale of the magazines in all of their stores in Japan by August 2019 due to the fact that the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics were scheduled to be held in the coming months.
With the growing global movement to eradicate sexual violence, and the accusation of violence against children by the former president of Johnny & Associates, the way companies deal with sexual violence in Japan is being severely questioned. Survey participants voiced their surprise and criticism of the fact that the materials are not “zoned” (sold in restricted areas) and are placed openly in general magazines, in products for children, and near toilets. They also commented, “I am astonished that sex has been commercialized to such an extent that it is constantly sold in our daily lives,” and “If children who have not received proper sex education see them, it will send the wrong message.”
The NJWA lodged a complaint with 7-Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart, claiming that the products are degrading to women’s dignity.
There are approximately 58,000 convenience stores nationwide. The NJWA is conducting a more detailed national survey from February 10 to April 10. (You can participate in the survey via QR code)
The sale of “adult magazines” in convenience stores may fall under the category of “environmental sexual harassment” as defined by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, in which sexual posters and advertisements in the workplace cause distress to employees. Store owners also stated that “female employees are welcoming [the discontinuation of sales].”
In response to inquiries from this newspaper, Seven & i Holdings, Laweson, and FamilyMart all stated that they have not changed their policy of “discontinuation in principle.” However, Seven & i admitted to selling the products at some of its stores. “It seems as if their promise has been reneged on.” Ryoko Ikeda, a member of the NJWA’s Central Standing Committee and director of the Children and Education Department, does not hide her indignation.
In addition to the scheduled 2020 Olympic Games, the 2019 “stop sale” was also pointed out by the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). In 2016, the Committee issued a summary finding on Japan’s implementation of CEDAW, stating that it was "concerned about the persistent existence of patriarchal attitudes and deep-rooted stereotypes [of stereotyped gender roles]. In particular, the report stated that the media “promotes sexual violence against women and girls through stereotypical expressions such as sexual objectification.”
Based on the summary findings, the NJWA proposed that convenience stores nationwide respect women’s human rights when handling "adult magazines. Ikeda recalls that upon the announcement of the “suspension of handling in principle” in 2019, “many members welcomed that ‘women’s voices and actions have changed society’.”
Convenience stores play an important role in disaster response and other infrastructure. The major convenience store chains are members of the Japan Franchise Chain Association and cooperates with the association’s “Creating a Safe and Secure Community” initiative. They respond to emergency evacuations of women and children from stalking and sex crimes, and in 2022, there were 7093 “run-in reports” for women and 4593 for children (“2022 Convenience Store Safety Station Activity Survey Report”).
Sales of publications in convenience stores account for 1% of total merchandise sales. Sales are decreasing year by year.
Many convenience stores enter into franchise agreements with “convenience store headquarters” and receive permission to use their trademarks and other rights by paying a portion of gross profit (royalties), which is calculated by subtracting “costs” from “sales”.
Seven & i Holdings stated, "Under the franchise agreement, the franchisees have the authority to purchase the products, so it is difficult to force them to stop selling the products, but we will continue our efforts to create an environment that is easy for customers to use.
A store owner, who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity, said that while franchisees have the discretion to make purchasing decisions regarding the handling of “adult magazines,” the head office is largely responsible for compliance (adherence to norms), including protection of human rights.
The aforementioned Ms. Ikeda said, “There is a great responsibility on the head office to ensure compliance, including the protection of human rights.”
“There has been a string of accusations of sexual crimes, domestic violence, and sex trafficking. As long as they are committed to the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), they have a responsibility to fulfill their tasks of gender equality and protection of children’s human rights.”
edit: Oh yeah, I should give a TL;DR: adult magazines which include some pretty gross content are sold out in the open at convenience stores, which (unsurprisingly) a lot of people find objectionable. The article goes through the history of convenience stores saying they would stop selling them, but then not really stopping, whether the franchises are really that independent of their parent company (which basically says “we can’t stop them from selling what they want”), and so on. The “secret poll” is a survey being conducted by the New Japan Women’s Association which readers are invited to participate in to get a more complete picture of what publications are being offered in which stores (the figures given in the article were from a sample of 517 stores compared to the ~58,000 in Japan). The UN is mentioned mostly to highlight the dire state of women’s rights in Japan, and that a UN committee (CEDAW) had commented on the supposed halt on sales of the magazines as part of an earlier report.
Critically: Unless the article takes a wild turn on a subsequent page that I can’t see, the NJWA doesn’t actually say anything (in this article) about a general ban on the sale of adult magazines–they just want people to be able to work their shitty-paying service jobs, grab a bento, or take a piss at the 7-Eleven in peace without seeing a bunch of degrading sexual material. And the JCP literally doesn’t make a policy prescription–it’s an article about this issue which has been a point of discussion for years and the NJWA’s actions, not an official party proclamation. So the JCP has not done anything worthy of critical support (because they literally didn’t do anything) and no one is coming for these gamers’ shitty manga.
So… basically they’re saying this adult content shouldn’t be sold in regular convince stores but at retails specially marked as “adult” vendors of erotica?
Nope, different characters for the given name (mangaka is 理代子 and NJWA member is 亮子), and the mangaka is also Riyoko rather than Ryoko (not just a romanization difference). Honestly, I can’t even be absolutely sure if her name is Ryoko–it’s the most common name reading for those kanji, but it could be Akiko or something else for all I know
edit: idk if anyone’s gonna see this at this point, but can anyone confirm if I got the reading order right? It should be simple in principle (right-to-left, top-to-bottom) but those pull quotes threw me for a loop. It seems to me like they essentially created separate columns, where each time you hit the pull quote you reset to the right and go down until you get past the pull quote, then start again at the top of the column on the left of the pull quote. The bit about polling squished in the lower right was the part I was least sure about since it stands alone.
I found a screencap of the story from the JCP’s newspaper on a JCP member’s blog. Did my best job to grab, order, and correct the text (I wasn’t super sure what order to read things in so I apologize if it’s a bit disjointed, but Google had zero fucking idea, and the quality is kinda shit) I’ll include a lightly-edited DeepL machine translation as well as the original text (please point out any transcription errors!). Not entirely sure if this is the whole story–seeing as it’s a front-page story, there might be more, but I have no way of accessing the full issue.
Full text (DeepL Japanese-to-English machine translation)
(Newspaper dated 23 February 2024)
Convenience Store Sales of “Adult Magazines” Revived
One of the headlines on the cover encourages sexual crimes
New Women’s Emergency Survey confirms 95% of stores
[Image of 7-Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart signs alongside blurred-out adult magazines]
Signs of convenience stores and magazines sold at those stores (image partially edited)
[In the center of the article: ] Respect for women’s human rights | Companies questioned about their attitudes
An emergency investigation by the New Japan Women’s Association (NJWA) has revealed that the sale of “adult magazines” at convenience stores, which once disappeared, has returned. (by Hiroshi Nikuma)
The NJWA surveyed 517 convenience stores in the prefecture from December 10 to 12 last year, and found that 95.4%, or 493 stores, were selling the books, with the covers of the books featuring such titles as “molester,” “peeping,” “sugar baby” and “runaway girl,” all of which are unacceptable even for adults and which remind people of sex crimes, prostitution, and child prostitution.
Concerning the sale of “adult stories” in convenience stores, Aeon-affiliated Ministop announced in 2017 that it would stop selling them in response to requests from female customers and others. In addition, 7-Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart all decided in principle to discontinue the sale of the magazines in all of their stores in Japan by August 2019 due to the fact that the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics were scheduled to be held in the coming months.
With the growing global movement to eradicate sexual violence, and the accusation of violence against children by the former president of Johnny & Associates, the way companies deal with sexual violence in Japan is being severely questioned. Survey participants voiced their surprise and criticism of the fact that the materials are not “zoned” (sold in restricted areas) and are placed openly in general magazines, in products for children, and near toilets. They also commented, “I am astonished that sex has been commercialized to such an extent that it is constantly sold in our daily lives,” and “If children who have not received proper sex education see them, it will send the wrong message.”
The NJWA lodged a complaint with 7-Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart, claiming that the products are degrading to women’s dignity.
There are approximately 58,000 convenience stores nationwide. The NJWA is conducting a more detailed national survey from February 10 to April 10. (You can participate in the survey via QR code)
The sale of “adult magazines” in convenience stores may fall under the category of “environmental sexual harassment” as defined by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, in which sexual posters and advertisements in the workplace cause distress to employees. Store owners also stated that “female employees are welcoming [the discontinuation of sales].”
In response to inquiries from this newspaper, Seven & i Holdings, Laweson, and FamilyMart all stated that they have not changed their policy of “discontinuation in principle.” However, Seven & i admitted to selling the products at some of its stores. “It seems as if their promise has been reneged on.” Ryoko Ikeda, a member of the NJWA’s Central Standing Committee and director of the Children and Education Department, does not hide her indignation.
In addition to the scheduled 2020 Olympic Games, the 2019 “stop sale” was also pointed out by the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). In 2016, the Committee issued a summary finding on Japan’s implementation of CEDAW, stating that it was "concerned about the persistent existence of patriarchal attitudes and deep-rooted stereotypes [of stereotyped gender roles]. In particular, the report stated that the media “promotes sexual violence against women and girls through stereotypical expressions such as sexual objectification.”
Based on the summary findings, the NJWA proposed that convenience stores nationwide respect women’s human rights when handling "adult magazines. Ikeda recalls that upon the announcement of the “suspension of handling in principle” in 2019, “many members welcomed that ‘women’s voices and actions have changed society’.”
Convenience stores play an important role in disaster response and other infrastructure. The major convenience store chains are members of the Japan Franchise Chain Association and cooperates with the association’s “Creating a Safe and Secure Community” initiative. They respond to emergency evacuations of women and children from stalking and sex crimes, and in 2022, there were 7093 “run-in reports” for women and 4593 for children (“2022 Convenience Store Safety Station Activity Survey Report”).
Sales of publications in convenience stores account for 1% of total merchandise sales. Sales are decreasing year by year.
Many convenience stores enter into franchise agreements with “convenience store headquarters” and receive permission to use their trademarks and other rights by paying a portion of gross profit (royalties), which is calculated by subtracting “costs” from “sales”.
Seven & i Holdings stated, "Under the franchise agreement, the franchisees have the authority to purchase the products, so it is difficult to force them to stop selling the products, but we will continue our efforts to create an environment that is easy for customers to use.
A store owner, who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity, said that while franchisees have the discretion to make purchasing decisions regarding the handling of “adult magazines,” the head office is largely responsible for compliance (adherence to norms), including protection of human rights.
The aforementioned Ms. Ikeda said, “There is a great responsibility on the head office to ensure compliance, including the protection of human rights.”
“There has been a string of accusations of sexual crimes, domestic violence, and sex trafficking. As long as they are committed to the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), they have a responsibility to fulfill their tasks of gender equality and protection of children’s human rights.”
edit: Oh yeah, I should give a TL;DR: adult magazines which include some pretty gross content are sold out in the open at convenience stores, which (unsurprisingly) a lot of people find objectionable. The article goes through the history of convenience stores saying they would stop selling them, but then not really stopping, whether the franchises are really that independent of their parent company (which basically says “we can’t stop them from selling what they want”), and so on. The “secret poll” is a survey being conducted by the New Japan Women’s Association which readers are invited to participate in to get a more complete picture of what publications are being offered in which stores (the figures given in the article were from a sample of 517 stores compared to the ~58,000 in Japan). The UN is mentioned mostly to highlight the dire state of women’s rights in Japan, and that a UN committee (CEDAW) had commented on the supposed halt on sales of the magazines as part of an earlier report.
Critically: Unless the article takes a wild turn on a subsequent page that I can’t see, the NJWA doesn’t actually say anything (in this article) about a general ban on the sale of adult magazines–they just want people to be able to work their shitty-paying service jobs, grab a bento, or take a piss at the 7-Eleven in peace without seeing a bunch of degrading sexual material. And the JCP literally doesn’t make a policy prescription–it’s an article about this issue which has been a point of discussion for years and the NJWA’s actions, not an official party proclamation. So the JCP has not done anything worthy of critical support (because they literally didn’t do anything) and no one is coming for these gamers’ shitty manga.
So… basically they’re saying this adult content shouldn’t be sold in regular convince stores but at retails specially marked as “adult” vendors of erotica?
That seems… reasonable.
Not being able to procure wank material at the convenience store is literally 1984
I think you can still get wank material, just only R rated stuff. If you want NC-17 level shit you gotta go to a porn shop.
I wonder if that’s the same Ryoko Ikeda who wrote the Rose of Versailles manga.
Nope, different characters for the given name (mangaka is 理代子 and NJWA member is 亮子), and the mangaka is also Riyoko rather than Ryoko (not just a romanization difference). Honestly, I can’t even be absolutely sure if her name is Ryoko–it’s the most common name reading for those kanji, but it could be Akiko or something else for all I know
Full text (original Japanese transcribed from image)
コンビニ「成人誌」販売復活
表紙に性犯罪助長の見出しも一
新婦人緊急調査 95%の店舗で確認
[Image of 7-Eleven, Lawson, and FamilyMart signs alongside blurred-out adult magazines]
コンビニ各社の看板と販売されていた雑誌（一部加工）
[In the center of the article:] 女性の人権尊重 態度問われる企業
一度は姿を消したコンビニエンスストアでの「成人向け雑誌」の販売が、復活していたことが新日本婦人の会の緊急調査で明らかになりました。(日隈広志)
取り扱い中止のはずが
新婦人は昨年１２月１０～１２日、都道府県のコンビニ５１７店舗を調査しました。９５・４％の４９３店舗で販売が確認され、表紙には「痴漢」「のぞき」「パパ活女子」「家出娘」などと、〝成人〟でも許されない性犯罪や買春・児童買春を想起させる見出しも確認されました。
コンビニでの「成人話」の販売をめぐっては、２０１７年にイオン系列のミニストップが女性客などの要望を受け販売中止を表明。 新婦人が他の大手各社に撤去を働きかけたことや、東京五輪・パラリンピックが予定されていたこともあり、セブンーイレブン、ローソン、ファミリーマートがそろって１９年８月までに国内全店舗での「原則取り扱い中止」を決定した経過があります。
世界的な性暴力根絶の運動の高まりとともに、旧ジャニーズ事務所社長による児童への暴力告発を契機に、日本でも性暴力への企業の向き合い方が厳しく問われています。 調査参加者からは「ゾーニング」（区分販売）されることなく、一般の雑誌や子ども向けの商品やトイレの近くなどに、堂々と置かれていることに驚きと批判の声が上がりました。また「これだけ性が商品化され、生活の場で常々と売られていることにがくぜんとする」「性教育をまともに受けていない子どもたちが見たら、間違ったメッセージになる」などの感想がありました。
新婦人は、女性の尊厳をおとしめるものだとしてせブン、ローソン、ファミリーマートに申し入れをしました。
コンビニは全国に約5万8000店舗あります。新婦人は２月１０日～４月１０日の期間で、より詳細な全国調査を実施しています。（QRコードから調査に参加できます）
コンピ二での「成人誌」発売は、厚生労働省が定める、職場の性的なポスターや広告が従業員の苦痛になる「環境型セクシュアルハラスメンと」に該当する恐れがあり、「原則取り吸い中止」の発表時には店舗オーナーから「(取り扱い中止に）女性従業員が歓迎している」との発言もありました。
本紙の問い合わせに、セブン＆アイ・ホールディングス、ローソン、ファミリーマートの3社はいずれも「原則取り扱い中止」の方針を変更していないことを表明。ただセブンは一部店舗での販売を認めました。「約束がほごにされたよう」。新婦人の中央常任委員・子どもと教育部長の池田亮子さんは憤りを隠しません。
19年の「販売中止」の背景には、20年に予定されていたオリンピック開催に加え、国連女性差別撤廃委員会の指摘もありました。女 性差別撤廃条約の日本の実施状況について同委員会は16年、「家父長的態度や、根深いステレオタイプ（固定的性別役割分担）が執拗（しつよう）に存在することを懸念する」とする総括所見を発表。とりわけメディアに対しても「性的対象とするなど、ステレオタイプの表現で女性や少女に対する性暴力を助長している」としました。
新婦人は総括所見も踏まえ、コンビニ店舗での「成人誌」の取り扱いについて、全国で女性の人権を尊重する対応を申し入れました。池田さんは１９年の「原則取り扱い中止」の発表に 「〝女性の声と行動が社会を変えた〟と多くの会員が歓迎した」と振り返ります。
駆け込み避難所なのに
コンビニは災害対応などインフラを担っています。大手は日本フランチャイズ（FC）チェーン協会に加盟し、同協会の「安全・安心のまちづくり」に協力。ストーカーや性犯罪からの女性と子どもの緊急避難に対応し、22年には女性で７０９３回、子どもでは４５９３回の「駆け込み報告」がありました(「22年度版コンビニエンスストアセーフティステーション活動アンケートリポート」)。
コンビニ店舗での出版物の売り上げは商品全体の1％。売上高は年々減少しています。
コンビニの多くは「コンビニ本部」とＦＣ契約を結び、「売り上げ」から「原価」を差し引いた粗利の一部（ロイヤルティー）を支払うことで商標の使用許可などを受けています。
セブン＆アイ・ホールデ ィングスは「ＦＣの契約上、仕入れの権限は加盟店にあるため、強制的に取り扱いを停止することが難し いですが、引き続きお客様の利用しやすい環境づくりに取り組んでまいります」としました。
置名を条件に取材に応じた加盟店オーナーは、「成人誌」の取り扱いについて「加盟店に仕入れ判断の裁量はあるが、人権保護などコンプライアンス（規範の順守）は本部に大きな責任がある」と語りました。
前出の池田さんは言います。
「性犯罪、ＤＶ、性売買の被害の告発が相次いでいる。女性のおかれた現状にコンビニ各社は真剣に向き合ってほしい。ＳＤＧｓ（持続可能な開発目標）を 掲げている以上、その課題のジェンダー平等や子どもの人権保護を果たす責任がある」
[Graph title and explanation]
コンビニでの女性・子どもの駆け込み対応回数の推移
日本フランチャイズチェーン協会 「コンビニエンスストアセーフティステーション動アンケートリポート」から[？？]
edit: idk if anyone’s gonna see this at this point, but can anyone confirm if I got the reading order right? It should be simple in principle (right-to-left, top-to-bottom) but those pull quotes threw me for a loop. It seems to me like they essentially created separate columns, where each time you hit the pull quote you reset to the right and go down until you get past the pull quote, then start again at the top of the column on the left of the pull quote. The bit about polling squished in the lower right was the part I was least sure about since it stands alone.