Bringing surgical masks to Japan to earn some cash?

[allie2590]

Masks are useless in the face of the flu. Just wash your hands people.

[MMM]

There are two kinds of masks, one to protect you from outside germs, and one to protect the outside from your germs. Make sure you know what you are getting.

[ozkai]

When the first Gulf war was on, we had customers coming in to our stores to purchase gasmarks as they though a Scud Missile may land in Australia!

We had outdoor/camping/surplus stores..

I wonder if it will get to that stage in Japan, although the threat is a lot more real than a Scud Missile.

[TalnSG]

Originally Posted by MMM

I can't say whether or not there would be a demand, but I think your second question is the important one. Even if you had 1000 masks to sell, where are you going to sell them and who are you going to sell them to? You are not a licensed distributor so stores won't buy from you. You could set up a table on the street somewhere, but I don't know if people want to buy sterile medical equipment from a 15-year-old foreigner when the disease itself came a foreign country.

Buy a handful and bring them as omiyage and enjoy your stay in Japan.

Aside from being in total agreement with all of this there is one other point about this idea that rather infuriates me.


Wasabijiuce & Stefan G
How crass and money grubbing can you get?!?!
You are going as a visitor, but with the idea of profiting off of a health issue?
You need to stay home and not inflict your menace on others.

[wasabijuice]

It was originally posted somewhat tongue in cheek. I was serious about the sold out status though. As you can see on the fear mongering news nightly if you live here. Didn't think anyone would actually think about bringing in 1000's of masks. By the way they're all sold out here, have to drive about 20 mins.

[JBaymore]

Originally Posted by wasabijuice

As you can see on the fear mongering news nightly if you live here.

The USA mass media has realized that all the hype was just that.... a bunch of hype... and has calmed down to something resembling what the threat actually is. Which is apparently not anywhere NEAR as significant as everyone initially feared. They realized that they were looking like IDIOTS yelling and screaming about this disaster.... that wasn't.

33,000 people a year in the USA die from the "normal" seasonal influenza. We've had a about a month of this "unique" flu... and only about 10 deaths. The death rate will have to significantly SOAR for the next 11 months to even come close to equaling the "nornal" every year flu.

Looking at the normal flu....... if people are so concerend about contracting "swine flu" they should be walking around in a plastic bubble in abject fear of the NORMAL flu each year. And most people do not get flu shots for the normal strain either.... so the "no immunity" issue is not really all that big either.

It is too bad that the Japanese media is still going overboard on it.

Anyway........ hopefully they will come to their senses before I head to Japan next month. Sigh.

best,

...................john