A set of Taiwan metro cards featuring a Japanese porn star sold out within hours of going on sale at midnight on Monday, the company said.

Every EasyCard, bearing a picture of Yui Hatano, fully clothed, had been snapped up by 4:18am yesterday.

Responding to a public outcry and demands from Taipei's mayor, the EasyCard Corp at the last minute decided to limit sales of the 30,000 cards to telephone orders only.

It had previously maintained that the cards, in which Hatano poses in "angel" and "devil" poses, would be sold at various outlets, including convenience stores.

"We apologize for the huge public controversy we have caused," the company said in a statement posted on its website.

On Monday, Taipei's Mayor Ko Wen-je had exhorted the company "not to let this kind of thing happen again."

The "angel" card shows Yui smiling, dressed in white.

The "devil" version shows her dressed in black and shooting a sultry gaze at the camera.

Pornography is conspicuous by its absence.

Hatano, 27, was recently ranked the No.9 porn star in Asia, according to erotic video website xvideos.com.

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