Absolutely. Stand up for what you believe in. I’ll complain personally to my local Family Mart next week if the magazine is still there.

Thanks for the link, I’ve added you to my list of Japan blogs, too.

You state:
“I indirectly support the selling of pornographic magazines and tobacco because they sell them, too. Actually, you may as well say I support deforestation, global warming and the depletion of earth’s natural resources because I use paper, drive a car and heat my house …”

I think all of this is basically true in a kind of trivial sense, but we each individually have to pick and choose the fights that are most relevant and important to us.

My point is not so much that one should feel guilty about going to Family Mart. Contrarily, my point is that one should not feel guilty about taking part in a boycott.

I’ll add your blog to my links.

It’ll be interesting to see if it’s still there this time next week. I’ll keep you posted.

That’s one way of looking at it, but then you could argue that I indirectly support the selling of pornographic magazines and tobacco because they sell them, too. Actually, you may as well say I support deforestation, global warming and the depletion of earth’s natural resources because I use paper, drive a car and heat my house, but of course that’s just silly.

I won’t buy the magazine for obvious reasons, but to not buy anything from convenience stores, or Amazon, seems to be going too far.

I’m happy to see in an update that letters of complaint have convinced Family Mart to remove the publication from their shelves. This form of protest is initially the best way to go and in this case has been effective.

“I’m not going to boycott Family Mart, as they are simply stocking something that some of their customers obviously want to buy.”

The reasoning would better be phrased as, if I shop at Family Mart, I indirectly support the sale of that magazine, so I won’t shop there. Just to be clearer, so long as Family Mart exists it will be able to sell the magazine. Therefore by supporting Family Mart, you support it’s ability to sell the magazine. You’ve no obligation to do that. It’s not your responsiblity to ensure others have an outlet where they can buy this magazine.

As far as sales, as best I can tell, for the publisher it’s their number one sales item at Amazon Japan. Could this just be foreigners snatching up copies … it’s possible, but I would guess in the current climate in Japan a tabloid magazine about foreign crime with lots of lurid stories would be quite popular. So if it’s selling fairly well, it shouldn’t be a surprise.

By the way, you have nice blog.