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<\/p>\nSocial media really is a great way for governments to disseminate information to the masses. <\/p>\n
Now, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has posted a message that we also should pay close attention to.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegarding the distribution of toilet paper in light of the situation in Iran and other matters, toilet paper is almost entirely produced domestically. The raw materials are domestically collected recycled paper and pulp, with almost no dependence on the Middle East, so there will be no direct impact. There is also sufficient capacity to increase production, so we ask that you use sound judgment based on accurate information before buying any.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The ministry also linked to a web page with more details, stating that the advice was due to\u00a0reports on social media that stocks of toilet paper had been disappearing in some parts of Japan,\u00a0and confirmed by the Japan Household Paper Industry Association.<\/p>\n
This begs the question:\u00a0Why, of all things, is toilet paper what people in Japan scramble for whenever the proverbial poop hits the fan?\u00a0To answer that, we\u2019ll need to look at the country\u2019s surprisingly long history of toilet paper and crises, dating back to the Oil Crisis of 1973, and it can all be traced to a single supermarket in Osaka.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Back then, the global economy was upended when Middle Eastern oil-producing countries imposed an embargo on countries that had supported Israel, Japan among them. This resulted in mass shortages of oil and skyrocketing prices.<\/p>\n
At the same time, much of Japan was still in the process of widespread urbanization, and many people were still using pit toilets where they could get away with using newspaper to wipe themselves with if need be. But for people living in newly modernized parts of the country, such as Senri New Town \u2014 one of the most state-of-the-art neighborhoods in Japan, made in the spirit of the upcoming 1970 Osaka Expo \u2014 flush toilets were standard but still a relatively new concept and very prone to clogging if the wrong things were sent down one.<\/p>\n
But even when the Oil Crisis first hit, these people still weren\u2019t focused on toilet paper in particular. Rather, they were concerned about prices of everything skyrocketing due to the rapidly rising cost of logistics.<\/p>\n
In the days leading up to\u00a0October 31, 1973, the Daimaru Peacock supermarket in Senri New Town announced that they would be having a sale on that day, selling four-packs of toilet paper rolls for 138 yen each, down from the regular price of 200 yen. Such a discount on a daily necessity in the face of soaring prices ended up bringing nearly every housewife within a mile radius, some 200 in total, lining up around the block. It was far more than Peacock expected, and their stock was sold out almost instantly. As a result, they had to bring out other toilet paper that sold for the regular price of 200 yen.<\/p>\n
The spectacle of so many people buying toilet paper at once caught the attention of the media. However, by the time a Mainichi Shimbun reporter came down to check it out, they only saw the regularly priced paper on the shelves. As such,\u00a0they reported it as if people were hoarding toilet paper merely as a result of the Oil Crisis rather than just pouncing on a really good price. Whether that was a misunderstanding or done intentionally to make it a more sensational article is unclear, but the topical angle of the ongoing oil shock helped the story spread, and it became national news before too long. People hearing the news then began feeling that if it could happen there, it could happen where they lived too, and all across the country, flocks started securing their own toilet paper for fear there would be no more.<\/p>\n
\u25bc A news report from 1973 about panic buying all over Japan. It had also spread to other products by this time, such as salt, detergent, and feminine hygiene products.<\/p>\n
Thus began the great toilet paper panic-buying of 1973. The mass hysteria grew so large that it eventually became international news, and in a bizarrely ironic twist, Johnny Carson made a joke about it on the\u00a0Tonight Show, forgetting to add the word \u201cpossibly will be\u201d and making it sound like there actually was a shortage in the USA to his tens of millions of viewers. That ended up triggering panic-buying of toilet paper there as well. He later apologized, saying he didn\u2019t want to be remembered as the guy who caused a fake toilet paper scare.<\/p>\n
Of course, the truth was that toilet paper was never in danger of running out in Japan or the USA.\u00a0The massive spike in purchases did cause temporary shortages, but manufacturers at the time said they never had trouble making more.<\/p>\n
And yet, the seed of paper psychosis had already been planted in the public at large in Japan, and from time to time,\u00a0whenever it looked like things were about to take a turn for the worse, people still started inexplicably buying up toilet paper. In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the first things to run out, possibly even faster than face masks,\u00a0was toilet paper.<\/p>\n
And now, as we look down the barrel of an even nastier oil shock, toilet paper is again becoming the canary in our economic coal mine. As the ministry pointed out, there is no issue with the supply of toilet paper in particular, but the reaction of other social media users felt otherwise.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m buying it now because prices are going up on April 1!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs there enough fuel for the machines that manufacture it? How about the plastic packaging?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat? People are hoarding toilet paper again?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the factories mostly use natural gas now, but what if that stops too?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd how do they plan to transport it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should probably put this info on the TV, where all the old people who were around in 1973 can see it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs the ministry planning on carrying all the toilet paper to us by hand?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople need to hear this. Today I saw four elderly people with 18 rolls each at the drug store.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI get that the toilet paper won\u2019t run out, but won\u2019t the cost of producing it go way up?\u201d<\/p>\n
And quite frankly, these people are all correct, too. Even the ministry was very cautious about their wording, using terms like \u201calmost\u201d or \u201cno direct impact\u201d and recognizing the fact that this current oil crisis will almost certainly affect prices at the very least.<\/p>\n
But the important thing to remember is that this will basically affect everything, not just toilet paper. So, the ministry\u2019s advice is sound in that we should take a deep breath and\u00a0think carefully about how much toilet paper we buy, but mainly because we should probably buy lots of other stuff too before the cost of everything really starts popping off.<\/p>\n
Source:\u00a0Twitter\/@meti_NIPPON,\u00a0Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry,\u00a0Senri New Town Johokan,\u00a0NIST<\/p>\n
Read more stories from SoraNews24.<\/p>\n
— People in Japan panic-buy toilet paper as coronavirus fears rise despite shortage being fake news<\/a><\/p>\n — Japanese store curses toilet paper supply to protect it from thefts<\/a><\/p>\n — People in Japan are now stealing toilet paper in midst of coronavirus crisis<\/a><\/p>\n External Link
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