Danica Davidson
December 11, 2024 
pictSPACE, a Japanese online shopping service dealing with doujinshi, is the latest Japanese retailer to soon lose the ability to take payments through Visa and Mastercard. This is part of a growing trend of some Western credit card companies and their agencies refusing to work with Japanese retailers that sell explicit, adult titles.
Doujinshi refers to Japanese self-published works. Some of these titles are graphic and for adults, and doujinshi is often thought of as consisting of adult-oriented stories, often based on already existing characters. That said, plenty of doujinshi is not explicit and not for adults only. But the Western card companies keep seeming to have issues with retailers selling some adult titles, even if they sell non-adult titles as well. pictSPACE said they were recently informed by their payment service provider of Visa and MasterCard’s plan. Their tie-in service pictSQUARE will also be impacted.
People can continue to use Visa and MasterCard at pictSPACE until the end of the month. On January 1 at midnight in Japan, the rules change. After that, people have the options of using bank transfer, American Express, Diners Club credit cards, the Paidy payment service, and JCB (Japan Credit Bureau) to make purchases from the retailer.
American Express previously refused to work with the Japanese site DLSite, but it more generally remains accessible to these Japanese retailers being cut off by Visa and Mastercard.
Other sites that have had credit cards pulled from them include Ken Akamatsu’s Manga Library Z, Fantia, Fanza, Nico Nico, Melonbooks and Toranoana.
President of Visa Worldwide Japan Cietan Kitney recently said that Visa has been disallowing service at these companies to “protect the brand.” This statement was made at an event about Visa in Osaka when someone brought it up during a Q&A session.
The Japanese companies being affected have had different responses, ranging from pulling adult titles to trying to find ways around what Visa and Mastercard are doing.
Source: ANN
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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