TOKYO -- Japan's Olympic pin badge traders have been disappointed by the lack of spectators at most Tokyo Games competitions, and the consequent lost opportunities to interact with like-minded collectors.

       Various pin badges made for the Tokyo Olympics are seen in Tokyo's Chuo Ward on Aug. 1, 2021. (Mainichi/Koichiro Tezuka)

       Pin badge trading interactions among the world's fans, journalists, staff, volunteers and also host nation residents during the Olympic Games have become popular enough to be dubbed an "unofficial competition."

       Yoshiyuki Terajima, 51, lives in Tokyo's Chuo Ward and has collected 40,000 to 50,000 pins since the 2002 World Cup jointly hosted by Japan and South Korea. Some 5,000 of them are Olympic-related pins. In the bag he usually carries for trading at a moment's notice are about 500 badges including some by sponsors since the Tokyo Games bid was approved, foreign pins traded with people from overseas and ones made for past Olympics.

       Though Terajima's collection contains pins traded for tens of thousands of yen (several hundred dollars), such as Japanese ones featuring popular media characters, he said, "The main draw is making people from all sorts of countries happy by interacting through trading -- rather than paying money to collect."

       But a drinks maker that sponsors the Olympics did not set up a dedicated pin trading and collectors' interaction area as it had in past Games to prevent the spread of COVID-19, meaning fans had nowhere to gather. There was effectively no pin-trading atmosphere at venues due to the Tokyo Games being largely held without spectators from home or abroad. Though Terajima asked foreign media organizations' staff and Games officials to trade in front of competition venues, he smiled wryly and said: "Police often questioned me because they found me suspicious."

       Terajima heads the Tokyo Pin Club and was working to create trading momentum ahead of the Tokyo Games, but club activities are suspended amid the coronavirus pandemic. Their last meetup was in November 2019.

       "The situation made me very sad, as I had high expectations for the Tokyo Olympics. But I want to keep making new pin badge fans even after the Games; I don't think pin trading culture will die."

       (Japanese original by Koichiro Tezuka, Photo Group)

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