Japan's adult manga sellers fear global credit card companies' wrath

TOKYO -- The Japanese manga industry is coming under increased pressure from global credit card brands to stop selling sexually explicit works, with legal experts raising concerns about the potential threat to artists' creative freedom.

Earlier this year, a manga retailer was told by a payment service provider that the retailer's platform was "infringing the rules" of an American credit card brand. An executive from the retailer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were told that if they continued to use that card, they could face a penalty of up to hundreds of thousands of dollars a day.