'Mask Shortage' in Japan, Rapid Increase in People Making and Wearing Cloth Masks at Home

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Recently, as masks have become scarce in Japan due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), more people are making and using cloth masks themselves using materials such as gauze, rubber bands, and stockings.

According to reports from Mainichi Shimbun and NHK on the 7th, gauze and rubber bands, which are materials for making cloth masks, are also experiencing shortages at various stores.

According to these reports, a sewing shop in Chuo Ward, Sapporo City, said it has been receiving many inquiries from customers asking, "Do you have rubber bands for masks?" The owner of the sewing shop explained the local situation, saying, "As soon as we stock rubber bands, they sell out immediately."

At Okadaya, a sewing shop operating 14 stores in Tokyo Metropolis and Kanagawa Prefecture, sales of gauze and rubber bands surged from late February.

Until all stores temporarily closed in early last month, materials for cloth masks were in short supply, and online orders surged so much that they had to stop accepting them.

In the case of Nishimatsuya, a baby goods chain headquartered in Hyogo Prefecture, sales of gauze towels used for bathing babies tripled after March. This was because the demand surged as they were used as materials for cloth masks.

As rubber bands, a material for cloth masks, became scarce, some people started using stockings instead of rubber bands.

A woman in her 30s living in Sapporo City said in an interview with Mainichi Shimbun that if you cut stockings into about 2 cm wide strips and connect them to gauze like rubber bands, they "stretch appropriately and feel soft to the touch."

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that due to the mask shortage, street vendors selling handmade masks have appeared in various places.

The newspaper also reported that although there have been many reports that street mask sales are illegal, it is difficult to easily determine whether it is illegal, causing local police to struggle.