TV sales get a boost as Covid keeps fans away from stadiums

It was both a moment of pride and heartbreak for Japan. The fan-favourite women’s softball team opened the action at the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday with a victory over Australia, but all the team’s followers could do was watch the action on TV. The stadium in Fukushima was empty.

Yoshitsugu Hashimoto, 65, who lives right across the stadium, also watched the match on television.

“I missed the loud cheers of spectators that I used to hear whenever ball games were held at the stadium. But I believe people in Fukushima are encouraged by the athletes’ performance,” Hashimoto was quoted by Kyodo News as saying.

This is how the home Olympics will unfold for the Japanese public—instead of queuing up for a spot in the stands, they will have to turn on a screen to watch the Games in their backyard. No spectators are allowed because of the fear of Covid-19 infections.

So, unable to spend on tickets, the Japanese public is splurging on new TV sets. Manufacturers are luring customers with cutting edge-models -- larger, higher quality sound systems, and higher definition images. The big TV companies in Japan -- BIC Camera, Nojima, Yodobashi Camera and Panasonic -- are reporting a sharp increase in sales.

“Sales of TVs are stronger than last year,” a spokesperson of BIC Camera told Japan Times in classic Japanese understatement.

Sales for BIC Camera started rising in May, and there was a surge in June when speculation started that the Olympics could be held behind closed stadiums. By July, when the IOC finally declared the Games will be spectator-free, TV sales rose again, according to the figures quoted by the newspaper.

Nojima Corp TV said sales in the week to last Sunday increased by 20% from a year ago, and sales at Yodobashi camera were rose two-fold for January to June.

“We have no choice but to watch all the action unfolding on TV,” said Isao Shigeno, a volunteer. “It is disappointing that we are not able to go to the stadiums but that’s how the situation is right now.”

At the Fukushima stadium, Japan’s softball team lived up to its billing by defeating Australia 8-1. The four-time Olympic gold winning team became a rage in Japan when they won the Beijing 2008 title beating USA -- only for the sport to be dropped for the next two editions of the Games.

Pitcher Yukiko Ueno, a top star from the team that won the 2008 gold, is still playing, and Japanese fans were eagerly looking forward to her taking the field again at the Olympics. But it was not to be. The moment was more poignant for the residents of Fukushima, in northeastern Japan. The prefecture was ravaged during the 2011 earthquake which led to the deadliest nuclear reactor accident since the one in Chernobyl in 1986. And one of the themes of the Tokyo Olympics was to show how Fukushima has bounced back from the disaster.