business

Lack of Olympic spectators bad news for Tokyo's souvenir sellers

20 Comments
By Ami Takahashi

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Maybe Bach and Coates will be true to the Olympic spirit and buy them all up!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I bought some Olympic souvenirs before any of us had heard of Covid. Buying souvenirs is a good part of tourism. You feed some money into the local economy and have something to remember your trip by. Holidays are just a modern version of the old pilgrimages and the 18thC Grand Tour. Souvenirs were sold then too.

In the 15th century, they used to sell mirrors on sticks that you could use to 'catch' light from a religious icon. Johannes Gutenberg had invested in such a scheme when the display of icons was delayed by one year due to a severe flood. He lost cash and needed a new scheme. It's likely that the development of moveable type was his 'Plan B'.

There will be no problems with tourism in a 'post-pandemic world' unless governments deliberately ban it for political reasons. That is what 'post-' means. We just don't know when that will be. Most likely 2022 for developed countries and 2023 for the rest. All the evidence to date on vaccinations suggests that they work well and offer long term protection from the nastier effects of Covid, reducing it to a concern no worse than flu.

People have been visiting countries with widespread Hep A for years, having had the relevant jabs. Once vaccinated, you will suffer more from a Japanese hornet sting than Covid. Although it is not a patch on Australia, where almost every creepy crawly can polish you off with a bite or sting, Japan has always had some nasty diseases, infections and wildlife, especially in rural areas in summer. That has never stopped tourists visiting.

Those holding stock of collectibles could put them on ebay. Some folk collect Olympic stuff and will buy them. Any associated with a particular anime will be bought by fans of that anime. If Kimble Corp. will buy in bulk and your home is full of boxes of the stuff, selling to them to cut your losses and get your lounge back isn't the worst idea in the world. This has been a hard 18 months for small businesses, and minimising loss is better than nothing. T-shirts can be repurposed by dyeing them or just knocked out cheaply. I've lost count of the number of people I've seen with irrelevant logos on their gear. Ultimately, clothes are clothes.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Before the pandemic I passed by one of the souvenir shops (Yoyogi, I think). Just the usual junk. Nothing tickled my fancy.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Just stating the obvious, but: who really would want to buy a "Tokyo 2020 Olympics" shirt, pin, etc. in 2021??

To see all the banners, flags with last year's date plastered all across town...it's weird, to say the least. Like we're living in a time warp.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

So I assume they were the 20% of people pushing for the Olympics.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

There aren’t many ‘cashed up’ foreigners in Japan-plenty of poor ones that can now get their Olympic tat at discounted prices though...

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Talk about stating the obvious. Unfortunately for the vendors, this is just the way business works. You take on risk. If things go well, you make money, otherwise you lose money. That's the chance you take as the entrepreneur. If they stocked up on all this junk before covid hit, bad luck, but you're not the only ones suffering. If they stocked up after knowing of covid, you rolled the dice and lost. No point whining about it now.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Less cheap junk to pollute the environment. Good.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

They sold them last year. My neighbor had a shirt and cup Tokyo 2020.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"small souvenir store owners across the country joined the party with an eye on the windfall they expected the games to bring."

'Expect' is the problem here, which it very often is, as well as entitlement. I feel sorry for the people that banked on this, to an extent, but I am SURE that if they can set up something online, even through Merukari or some other site -- maybe Amazon would be willing to help them out without any cost, or a small one -- people would more than compensate. It means adapting, and I think that is where so many here are unable to put in the work.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Lack vaccines bad news for Tokyo'

I agree.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The Government has thrown everyone under the bus by not taking the control of the virus seriously.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

"Lack of Olympic spectators bad news for Tokyo's souvenir sellers..."

I feel so bad for the souvenir sellers and everyone

else in Japan who is forced to experience the case of

what the Japanese Government and the IOC has

created in terms of the Pandemic Olympics coming to a

neighborhood near you!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@Bertiewooster when is Japan going to stop using that as an excuse for it’s failings.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

So they will be stuck with mountains of useless stock because they gambled on the Olympics. Sad day for you.

That junk was destined for the landfill anyway.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

The Olympics was never about mom and pop shops...

16 ( +16 / -0 )

The same old Autopilot doesn't work anymore. Reinvent yourself Japan, come into the future with bold and innovative ways to change with the times.

11 ( +12 / -1 )

Interesting choice of an article given that almost all on earth have taken hits due to the virus, and many have lost everything.

And everyone from large corporations to mom and pop shops all over Japan will not see any Olympic related boosts.

13 ( +13 / -0 )

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