Japan’s three largest convenience store chain operators will stop selling adult magazines by the end of August.

Adult magazine for sale in a convenience store in Japan. Photo: Venus.

Seven-Eleven, Lawson and FamilyMart decided to stop selling to improve their image ahead of the Rugby World Cup this fall and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo next year, according to Kyodo News.

This move is to avoid giving a bad impression as Japan is expected to welcome a large number of foreign visitors. They also hope this will bring comfort for women and children to the store.

Industry experts estimate that Japan has about 20,000 Seven-Eleven stores, with pornographic magazines accounting for less than 1% of sales. Lawson stopped selling adult magazines at stores in Okinawa since November 2017 and decided to expand to 14,000 stores nationwide.

FamilyMart announced its decision on January 22, saying it had stopped selling the magazine at about 2,000 out of 16,000 stores nationwide. Ministop, which operates about 2,000 convenience stores in Japan, also stopped selling.