No booster packs to be found in Japan

Hi! Last November I went to Japan for a month (Tokyo, Kyoto, etc) and there were booster packs in every 7/11 store, and the Kyoto Pokémon Center had like a gazillion of different booster packs.

That made me go back to collecting them a bit.

A friend is now visiting Japan and I asked her whether she could get some booster packs for me. But she just told me that, apparently, it's super hard now to find them. There are no booster packs in the Kyoto Pokémon center (which I find extremely surprising), and most stores don't have them.

Is this normal?? Has it changed so much in less than a year? Would anyone have any recommendation on where my friend could get booster packs?

Thanks!