Store helps older men dispose of porn DVD collections

We’re sure we are not alone in wondering about some of the more unusual consequences if we went under a bus tomorrow. For instance, who would continue doing this blog every day? And what would happen to our collection of Japanese porn?

In Japan, a country with one of the largest porn industries in the world and which is continuing to grow, this question is a major one for its aging population.

As gentlemen face the prospect of meeting their maker, and perhaps as they sex drive diminishes, they may no longer wish to keep that hoard of porn. Especially for elderly men who built up their stash in the pre-internet or early internet days, this probably means a physical collection of magazines, photo books, VHS tapes, and DVDs.

You could slip everything in plastic bags, wrapped up discreetly, and then put it all out with the trash. But that’s a bit of a waste, right?

Fortunately, if you live in the northern Kanto region, there’s one adult bookstore chain that’s willing to take your unwanted porn off your hands.

As reports the Asahi, Tone Shoten, which sells porn and sex toys, is a popular destination for men aged 65 and older to sell their adult DVDs. The chain says it purchased nearly 70,000 porn DVDs from men in that age group in both 2020 and 2021. One “regular” customer is apparently in his eighties.

In many of the cases, the chain believes, the men were making preparations for the end of their lives and had kept the DVDs secret from their families. A man, for example, said he wanted to dispose of “several thousand” DVDs before he was admitted to a care home.

The chain offers perks if you bring in bulk batches or fill in a questionnaire on your concerns about disposing of adult DVDs.

Fear not, you don’t have to lug those heavy boxes of DVDs to the store yourself. You can apparently go online and order pickup from your home, a service that the chain began in 2015. Customers are also allowed to send items in sealed cardboard boxes for greater discretion, or drop off packages of porn mags and DVDs in boxes outside the store. It doesn’t require face-to-face negotiations with shop clerks over the prices.

And if your relative dies and you discover a box of his that contains, well, some surprisingly DVDs, the chain also wants to help. “We receive inquiries from spouses and family members who say they don’t know what to do with the DVDs left behind by the deceased. We hope we can reduce the mental burden of bereaved family members because it may involve things too sensitive to be known by anyone else.”

The Gunma-based chain, which has 25 outlets, even goes so far to claim that it is contributing to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals by selling on secondhand porn.

So that you go: saving our red faces and saving the planet. Now that’s what we call killing two birds with one stone.