Scalpers are occupying free fireworks-viewing spots before dawn and reselling them for thousands of yen, while groups buy up launch-day Beyblade toys. Japanese netizens are angry about public and children's spaces being monetized, though who is specifically behind the reselling remains unverified.
Two stories converged. A viral aggregator post framed organized reselling of Pokémon and One Piece cards by Vietnamese and Chinese sellers as making 'honest work look pointless.' Around the same time, a Vietnamese suspect was arrested for setting off bear spray at a Nagoya post office, though he denies the charge. Individual incidents and sweeping generalizations blurred together, and inflammatory headlines amplified an exclusionary reading — even as claims of 'widespread' reselling and of criminal intent ran ahead of any statistics or investigation.