Just as the Japanese government prepares to declare a state of emergency as the number of cases in big cities increases, people lined up in front of Yodobashi Camera in Osaka’s Umeda for the Animal Crossing Nintendo Switch and Ring Fit Adventure.
Both have been selling out, and this Yodobashi Camera, one of the biggest electronics stores in Osaka, got in a new shipment on Saturday. The retailer is located in the Kita Ward, which, for the city, has a high number of covid-19 cases.
The Mainichi reported last week that a cluster of 18 cases was discovered in the Kita Ward, and Osaka Prefectural Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura said that the virus was spreading through the district. He had asked people to refrain from going out at night. Apparently, the several hundred people who lined up for Nintendo Switch hardware in the area didn’t think the request applied to them.
Inside, the line was long, too.
On 2ch, Japan’s largest bulletin board, people criticized the individuals who waiting for the Nintendo hardware, Yodobashi Camera for lining up all those shoppers, and even Nintendo itself for releasing the hardware. There are also theories that many of those waiting were buying the Animal Crossing Switch and Ring Fit Adventure to resell online.
The number of cases in Tokyo and Osaka have been increasing rapidly in the past few weeks. According to Nippon.com, Tokyo has 1,033 cases, which is the most in the country and followed by 408 cases in Osaka.
Of course, trains are still crowded, parks are still filled with folks and people continue to line up at drugstores on a regular basis for mask shipments. There are concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus within the country.
Increasingly, there are photos like these images taken in Tokyo’s Akihabara over the weekend, showing that people are staying clear of urban centers.
But...