Taiwan swipe card with porn star image sells out in 4 hours

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – A special edition swipe card for Taiwan's mass transit featuring the clothed image of a Japanese porn star sold out within hours overnight via a telephone hotline, despite a storm of opposition.

Taiwan's EasyCard Corp. says on its website that it sold its full run of 15,000 card sets by 4:18 a.m. Tuesday after phone orders started at midnight.

The stored value cards - also used for convenience store purchases - feature images of Yui Hatano, a 27-year-old Japanese woman who local media say likes Taiwan and wants to help the card company's charity donation scheme.

Critics campaigned against the cards, saying the images disrespect women and send inappropriate messages to children. Many stores declined to sell the cards, and the company ended up offering them via hotline only.

Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je, whose government is a 40 percent investor in the swipe card company, had asked that the cards avoid being "openly sold,'' such as at convenience stores or metro stations, deputy city spokesman David Huang said.

"The city government believes that because a controversy exists, there's no need to do this sale,'' Huang said Tuesday.

Taiwanese went for the cards because they look up to Japanese culture, one metro rider said. "It's culture worship, like when you're young and collect cards with cartoon stars like Doraemon,'' she said.