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Toilet Paper Panic Buying In Japan Because Of Coronavirus

Photo: Gaijin Hunter, Twitter

Earlier this week, toilet paper was widely available nearly everywhere in Japan. Now, it’s selling out at places throughout the country because of coronavirus. Here’s how this happened.

Rumours had been circulating that the raw materials used to make toilet paper couldn’t be imported and would thus cause shortages. With it already difficult to purchase sickness masks (and people lining up mornings when drugstores do get them in) in Japan, the toilet paper rumours seemed conceivable.

Even more so after photos of shops in Kumamoto Prefecture showed toilet paper sold out—most likely sparked by the rumours! It seemed like a local problem because while images circulated online, it was still possible to walk into many stores earlier this morning elsewhere in Japan and purchase toilet paper. Sell-outs became more and more common by late afternoon and evening. Tissues and paper towels were also vanishing from store shelves. Near where I live in Osaka all the toilet paper is already gone.

However, the initial rumours about the difficulty of importing from China are completely unfounded. As Chukyo TV reports, only 2.3 per cent of the toilet paper sold in Japan is dependent on Chinese manufacturing. When these rumours were first circulating, some people uploaded images to Twitter showing domestically-sold toilet paper packaging, which clearly state 日本製 or “made in Japan.”

“None of the member companies have run out of such (paper) products,” a representative of Japan’s toilet paper industry told Mainichi News. Even if they temporarily disappear from store shelves, they can be replenished quickly.” The Japanese government is also urging people not to hoard toilet paper, NHK reports.

Yet...

None of this has stopped panic-buying or unscrupulous people trying to flip toilet paper at a premium.

This toilet paper panic is not a first for Japan. After the March 11, 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, hoarding caused shortages. But even before that, back in 1973, there were even toilet paper riots in Japan. Here’s Matt Alt, author of Pure Invention, explaining how that went down:

Hopefully, unlike in 1973, Japan’s toilet-paper panic-buying won’t spread to other countries.

Comments

  • ody @ody

    There many reasons this doesn't make much sense, first is that it's japan, I thought far superior bidets were very common there? Second is that it takes my husband and I 1-2 months to use a single roll of toilet paper, how long do they think such a shortage would last that they need to stock up so much?

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    • riddick @riddick

      1-2 months to use a single roll of toilet paper? are you sheep people that deposit nice clean pellet poops all the time? or is this some mega industrial sized rolls? even a single aldi double roll only lasts me 1 week, I'm not eating junk everyday like some people seem to either.

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  • caser @caser

    Considering how far advanced Japanese toilet technology is it's clear they care deeply about the health and comfort of their bungholes, so I guess it's understandable that a threat to that comfort would be met with outright panic. The only surprise is that they use paper and not silk.

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  • jerichosainte @jerichosainte

    Saw some dude buying toilet paper and water at ALDI this morning. Where is that joker meme when you need it!

    0
  • riddick @riddick

    When I start running out of toilet paper, I move to tissues, you can even get extra large ones for big booties!

    0

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