Japanese manga store Melonbooks offers customers discount for using AMEX and JCB credit cards to counter issues with international payment processors 

Melonbooks, a Japan-based retailer that describes itself as “the one-stop shop for all doujinshi products, including manga, novels, music, video games and more” is currently offering a 30% discount for customers who pay by JCB or American Express credit cards.  

At first glance, an online store providing such a deal might not seem anything out of the ordinary, but this particular discount is the result of Melonbooks having to suspend Visa and Mastercard payments due to issues with international payment processors, which have been impacting various Japanese platforms this year. The banner advertising the discount on Melonbooks’ site has “apologies for the inconvenience” written at the top. It seems that Melonbooks are trying to encourage customers to switch to American Express and JCB, the two credit cards that can still be used on their site. 

Skeb, Fantia, DLSite and Niconico are among other Japanese platforms that have suspended various credit card payment methods this year, due to being unable to comply with international payment processors’ crackdown on adult content. International payment processors have been tightening their regulations lately, to avoid situations in which their money transfer networks are used in the monetization of illegally produced sexual content and/or content depicted sexual acts involving minors.