Japanese rights campaigners have demanded that Google remove its Street View service from the nation's cities after it captured couples walking in and out of "love hotels".
Google launched Street View in the United States last year, providing pictures of panoramic all-around street-level views at locations on its online maps.
The service was later expanded to major cities in Japan, France and Australia.
The activists involved in the Campaign Against a Surveillance Society wrote to their local Google branch asking for Street View to be taken down, saying it violates people's privacy.
Their campaign has gathered momentum with the claim that couples can be seen entering short-stay "love hotels" in Tokyo's Shibuya nightlife district.
According to the group, Street View "constitutes violent infringement on citizens' privacy by photographing residential areas, including community roads, and publishing their images without the consent of communities and citizens".
Local municipalities in Tokyo and Osaka have already appealed to the national government to take action against the site.
The Google Japanese unit earlier said it was blurring the faces of people seen in Street View scenes by special technology and that it would delete the pictures of people and buildings upon request.
Japan has stricter protections on privacy in public than most countries, with Japanese able to stop their pictures from being used against their will.
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