Western payment processors, who dominate global payments, have once again imposed their will on foreign businesses, presenting them with ultimatums to retain their services.
Unfortunately, this time, they have claimed another victim.
Over the past year, Western payment processors have deliberately targeted foreign businesses, dictating what their customers can spend their money on. VISA and MasterCard have pressured Japanese businesses such as FANZA, U-NEXT, Fantia, Niconico, and DLSite to purge their storefronts of content they perceive as exploitative.
Given that these platforms distribute, sell, or curate adult-centric doujinshi, games, and more, it’s evident that VISA and MasterCard are specifically targeting erotica material as they’ve also hit the likes of Patreon in the past resulting in the curation of certain “kinks” and content from being allowed on its services alongside Gumroad.
In response, most of these Japanese businesses, including have opted to continue distributing such products by opting to have their VISA and MasterCard vendor licenses suspended. This approach ensures that their end users can purchase content freely without fear of censorship.
However, this time, Toranoana, a well-known Japanese retailer specializing in selling doujinshi, anime, manga, and related merchandise through physical stores and an online storefront has become the latest victim of VISA and MasterCard’s stance on erotic material.
Unfortunately, Toranoana has not defended creative freedom by resisting these American payment processors. Instead, they have complied and are now halting the sale of certain materials to meet their demands.
Numerous content creators associated with various “doujinshi circles” have received emails from Toranoana stating that their material has been labeled as Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) by payment processors. Consequently, Toranoana Co. Ltd will suspend the sale of these works and promptly remove their online sales pages.
This situation has sparked debate among Westerners who often conflate fiction with reality, viewing drawings of fictional characters that appear short, flat, petite, “chibi” and or cute as problematic and equating them to depictions of real-life children.
Ultimately, if Japanese corporations allow themselves to be influenced by Western pressures, they risk losing control over their content, similar to how Blackstone recently invested $1.7 billion in a Japanese e-manga platform.
With Blackstone, led by Stephen Schwarzman, effectively curating the platform’s content, Infocom, Japan’s largest e-manga retailer, could shape what material is allowed for sale.
Controlling what can and can’t be sold means controlling what’s produced. Aspiring mangakas would have to align their work with the values of entities like Blackstone to avoid financial and visibility setbacks by being barred from sale on large platforms by Infocom, which will only expand as the West continues encroaching upon Japan and forcing them to adhere to their own morals and ideology.
Have you observed how some individuals, who frequently boast about their moral high ground for supporting causes like the Ukraine/Russia conflict or Palestine, used an image of a baby’s face edited onto a woman’s body with large breasts to criticize Uzaki-chan as being pedophilic?
Is it genuinely moral to argue that fictional characters are akin to real children, while at the same time posting images of actual children to target those they believe are attracted to minors? Do you not find the irony and disturbing nature of this behavior striking?
It’s called Erotica Derangement Syndrome and it’s very much a real thing.
VISA and MasterCard are victims of EDS, watering down actual child trafficking and CSAM by targeting retailers and businesses that offer fictional material they consider obscene and problematic. While some niches may be more controversial than others and subject to criticism, no creator should be forced to censor their work or be excluded from sales due to Western influence on their own country.
Doujinshi is produced by independent artists and small groups, akin to “indie” projects in the West. However, because some Westerners are easily offended by anything remotely sexual or contrary to their preferences, there is a misconception that small, cute characters equate to real-life children.
This misunderstanding has grown with the rise of Japanese anime in Western regions, which contrasts with the struggling American cartoon industry, often criticized for fielding actual child predators who demonized erotica featuring “underage” characters.
This is precisely the kind of pressure VISA and Mastercard are imposing on Toranoana and other businesses they’ve targeted. With PayPal, VISA, and Mastercard holding such a dominant monopoly over global payment transactions, businesses face a significant risk if they refuse to comply, potentially losing their vendor licenses and alienating a large portion of their customers, especially if they have physical locations.
Although Japan has its own national JCB bank, many Japanese citizens still prefer using VISA or Mastercard for their payments. However, there has been a noticeable shift towards JCB as these payment processors have pressured platforms like DLSite and FANZA.
These businesses chose to terminate their vendor licenses rather than censor their content, standing by their commitment to consumers and content creators.
VISA and Mastercard have effectively compelled a Japanese retailer to halt the sale of certain materials created by aspiring doujinshi artists. These American payment processors have successfully influenced a foreign retailer to censor and curate their offerings, both in physical stores and online, entirely due to moral reasons.
If Japan does not assert itself and resist this external pressure, their culture will continue to be subverted by the West, with its manga and anime industries being transformed into socially acceptable sanitized garbage void of sexuality while pandering entirely upon the queer demographic.
