UPDATE: In a surprising turn of events, just a day after Aellune announced that VISA had abruptly suspended their payment processing, the matchmaking platform reported that they had been contacted by VISA with confirmation that payments would resume.
While no clear explanation was given for the initial suspension, the sudden reversal suggests that the backlash and scrutiny over their actions may have pressured VISA to reconsider though it leaves lingering questions about VISA’s opaque decision-making and its motives for targeting Japanese businesses in the first place.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Under the guise of “brand protection,” global payment giants VISA and Mastercard have spent the past few years targeting Japanese platforms and retailers that distribute adult content, particularly doujinshi. This crackdown has escalated throughout 2024, with a sharp focus on material that doesn’t align with their corporate standards.
Platforms like DLSite and Melonbooks, staples of Japan’s creative and cultural ecosystem, have been strong-armed into compliance or lose their ability to process payments. VISA and Mastercard are zeroing in on “problematic” genres and niches, including Lolicon, which often features characters drawn to be petite, youthful, and irresistibly cute (moe).
Western tourists, many of whom have only recently discovered anime, are fueling the stigma by equating fictional depictions with real-life children, showcasing an inability to distinguish between art and reality.
This narrative not only reflects cultural ignorance but threatens Japan’s creative legacy. Anime itself was built on foundations of loli characters and fanservice elements Western puritans loudly condemn. The dominance of VISA and Mastercard in global payment processing (which accounts for roughly two-thirds of transactions in Japan outside of JCB’s local footprint) gives them immense leverage.
When these corporations pressure Japanese retailers to remove or censor inventory, they’re not just stifling commerce, they’re eroding cultural expression. This pressure has already forced changes at Denpasoft and Toranoana while Manga Library Z, a haven for out-of-print manga, was forced to shut down entirely after refusing to capitulate to these demands.
But the slippery slope doesn’t end there. As monopolistic payment entities tighten their grip on global commerce, they blur the line between protecting their brand and outright censorship. Who decides what fiction is “appropriate”? The bar for acceptability keeps shifting lower, sweeping more material into the “problematic” category. Today, it’s Lolicon and Shota content. Tomorrow? Everything else.
VISA and Mastercard’s crackdown has already expanded to target homoerotic content, such as boys’ love doujinshi and erotic audio dramas. PictSPACE, a platform specializing in BL content, announced that as of January 1, 2025, they will no longer be able to process payments through these providers.
This is not brand protection. It’s cultural imperialism disguised as corporate policy, and it’s destroying the very freedom that fosters creativity and diversity in storytelling.
A Japanese platform was recently informed by its payment agency, responsible for handling contracts with major credit card brands that VISA and Mastercard would be suspending their payment options. No detailed explanation was provided for the termination, other than the glaring reality: VISA and Mastercard are becoming increasingly brazen in their efforts to control the output of artists, creators, vendors, and retailers, both digital and physical.
Their aim? To impose Western moral sensibilities on Japan.
The head of VISA Japan has openly admitted that these aggressive measures are part of an effort to “protect and preserve VISA’s brand image.” Apparently, the purchasing habits of Japanese consumers, spending their own money on local goods pose a threat to the reputation of a global payment processor.
Meanwhile, the same companies freely enable Western consumers to buy similar pornographic material that exploits real, living people.
For example, VISA severed ties with PornHub following lawsuits accusing the platform of hosting material involving child exploitation and profiting from content featuring underage individuals. While this initially appeared to be a principled move, VISA continued to process payments for other pornographic platforms owned by MindGeek, the same parent company as PornHub, exposing the inconsistency in their so-called moral stance.
This isn’t about protecting anyone; it’s about erasing Japan’s cultural heritage and artistic freedom. It’s about forcing compliance with the demands of Western puritanism, where fictional characters and pixel art are treated as if they were living beings deemed more deserving of “protection” than actual people made of flesh and blood.
The overreach of VISA and Mastercard in strong-arming Japanese retailers is staggering. Businesses that don’t comply risk losing their vendor licenses, cutting off access to payment options for approximately two-thirds of Japanese consumers. This isn’t just theoretical, it’s already happening.
For example, Aellune, a matchmaking service helping otaku find marriage partners, recently announced that they had to suspend VISA payment options on their site.
The message is clear: fall in line with Western moral standards or face financial ruin by losing our business. This isn’t brand protection; it’s cultural colonization at its most insidious.
VISA has now taken its censorship crusade straight to the hearts of Japanese people. Aellune (アエルネ), a Japanese online matchmaking platform tailored for “serious otaku,” has become the latest casualty in VISA’s war on Japanese culture. While the term otaku is often associated in the West with die-hard fans of anime, manga, or gaming, its true meaning is broader.
It describes individuals with a deep passion for a particular niche, be it predominately anime, games, idol groups, train spotting, or even collectibles. Aellune exists to help these enthusiasts find love by connecting people who embrace their hobbies as integral parts of their daily lives.
In modern Japan, where industrialization has transformed lifestyles and rural areas are struggling with depopulation, platforms like Aellune serve a unique social role for a niche few. Amid constant media narratives warning of Japan’s declining birthrate and calls for immigration to “solve” the issue, Aellune offers a chance to foster meaningful relationships among individuals with shared passions.
But VISA’s decision to terminate their vendor license without explanation disrupts more than just financial transactions—it undermines an outlet for connection and community in an increasingly isolated world.
On December 14, Aellune announced that VISA had abruptly informed them they could no longer process payments on their platform. The suspension will take effect as early as December 16 or by December 31 at the latest. In response, Aellune has asked users to switch to domestic bank transfers and is waiving the usual 500-yen fee to ensure customers don’t pay more than they would with a credit card.
VISA’s actions seem to reflect more than just “brand protection”; they symbolize a growing antagonism toward Japanese culture and its unique expressions of creativity, individuality, and intimacy. While VISA ostensibly claims moral high ground, its abrupt targeting of platforms like Aellune, a site far removed from any controversial content reveals a deeper agenda of cultural disruption.
Taro Yamada, a member of Japan’s House of Councillors, took to his official Twitter account to voice concerns over VISA’s abrupt suspension of payment processing for Aellune. Yamada criticized the lack of transparency and arbitrariness behind the decision, highlighting the harm it causes to both legitimate businesses and their customers. He further argued that if such practices continue unchecked, new laws may be required to protect Japanese enterprises from being unfairly targeted.
This sentiment rings true. Global payment processors like VISA and Mastercard profit immensely from operating across regions with vast cultural differences. Their willingness to accommodate those differences should, in theory, be motivated by the promise of profit. However, when it comes to Japan, they seem content to sacrifice financial gain to enforce compliance with their own moral standards, disrupting Japan’s businesses and cultural practices in the process.
If companies like VISA and Mastercard wish to operate in Japan or any sovereign nation, they should be legally required to process payments for all goods and services deemed legal within that country, regardless of how “immoral” or “questionable” those goods may appear through a Western lens. Forcing their standards onto Japanese society is an insult to the country’s autonomy and culture.
By targeting platforms like Aellune, a matchmaking service far removed from controversial adult centered content VISA’s actions have entered the realm of cultural and economic interference, undermining Japan’s unique identity and social fabric, as if they’re deliberately targeting Japan and any sort of buzzword surrounding anime.
This overreach borders on racial prejudice, as VISA appears to be systematically attacking aspects of Japan’s vibrant cultural identity under the guise of protecting its brand.
If payment processors are unwilling to respect the cultural and legal norms of the countries they operate in, then they should lose the privilege of doing business in those regions. Economic bullying disguised as “moral enforcement” has no place in a truly global marketplace.
