FEATURE: Little-known porn "white post" boxes fading into Japan's lurid past
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In Japan, there is a little-known network of "white post" pornography drop boxes that were installed on streets decades ago to protect young people from exposure to explicit material not intended for their unsuspecting eyes.

In Japan, there is a little-known network of “white post” pornography drop boxes that were installed on streets decades ago to protect young people from exposure to explicit material not intended for their unsuspecting eyes.

Primarily located outside train stations across the country, users deposited “obscene books,” DVDs, and other items considered harmful to youth. But as people turn to the internet rather than physical media for their carnal needs, the white boxes are quickly becoming obsolete.

Although some municipalities still have them in use, one expert points out that “even if society is ostensibly ‘clean’ on the surface, people are still being exposed to obscene content via their smartphones.”

Last October, a city-commissioned worker unlocked a white box in Nakagawa, Fukuoka Prefecture, in southwestern Japan, and removed one book and a DVD. In all on the day, he collected 16 books and 81 DVDs from eight white post boxes in the area.

The man, Kazuhide Inoue, 73, who has performed this task for the past 12 years, still feels the need to keep the boxes in his community.

“Before the white boxes were installed, this stuff was littered on the streets,” Inoue said. “Although the number of boxes has fallen, they still play a significant role.”

A 71-year-old cab driver, who often picks up customers in and around the city, said, “At night, when the streets are less crowded, men of all ages, from young to old, come to get rid of their stuff.”

In the city of Fukui, central Japan, two more of the collection boxes were installed in 2018, indicating they are still considered necessary in some places.

Yuko Obi, an associate professor of sociology at Tokyo Keizai University who is familiar with the history of the white boxes, said the first units were installed in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, in 1963 to collect “obscene books” that were harmful to the sound development of young people. Since then, they have spread nationwide.

As physical media progressed to video in the 1980s and then onto DVDs, those items began being deposited. Tokyo, however, began removing the boxes around this period. With the spread of the internet, the number of magazines sold has declined.