Mitsukoshi supermarket says it will stop selling products with the word “gays”
A Mitsukoshis southern department store in Tokyo has announced it will no longer carry items with the words “gAY” or “gay” on them.
Mitsukoshi, one of the largest retailers in Japan, said it would stop selling cosmetics, haircare and hair products that advertise homosexuality or “homosexuality in an inappropriate way.”
It is not clear if the decision will affect other Mitsukoses department stores in Tokyo, including Tokyo Shinjuku.
In 2014, Mitsukos southern departmentstore in Tokyo banned products that advertised gay rights.
Miyuki Sato, an employee at the store, told local news station Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper that the decision to remove the items came after it was learned that one of its employees was involved in a gay-bashing incident last month in Tokyo.
The employee was fired after a complaint from a customer, who said that he had seen him wearing a shirt with a “gay symbol” printed on it, Sato said.
Matsukoshi said it had been notified by a customer who had complained to the company that the shirt violated the store’s policies.
The company has been the subject of criticism in Japan for selling items that advertise gay rights in the past.
In July, Mitsuku, the company behind the company’s cosmetics brand, announced plans to change its name to the “Mitsuru” brand, which it said would better reflect its LGBT community.
The Japanese company has come under fire in recent years for its policies against discrimination, and a campaign by the country’s gay-rights group, LoveIsLove, has raised awareness of its policies.