Surgical Masks

LOL. Maybe I should try to sell a few boxes on Yahoo! Japan then!

Reminds me of an article I was just reading in Discover though. Wasn't about the swine flu, but what this scientist said is so dead-on appropriate right now it bears repeating: "It isn't very hard to scare people, but it's extremely difficult to unscare them."

Oh my. O_o
Was this box particularly special or something?

talk about cashing in on a pandemic. Are those magically expensive surgical masks "pre-used" by AV actresses?

will normal mask with anime design be sufficient i wonder? ('~')

lol, it'll probably cheaper for the person who won the auction to just buy it online from another country.

Thats a ridiculous price.... I think some people are over reacting to this....

wasn't just a mistake? I don't think they're so schizophrenic to desperately buy at that price

Very crazy stuff, and they aren't even the N95 that would usually go for 700 yen a piece, but you can still find those in regular shops.

I don't think the auction is over yet and I hope people are sensible enough to not pay such a ridiculous price for a box of surgical masks :P And whoever put up that auction should be ashamed to make some profits using people's fear and all that -_-

Oh wow. o___o
No comment really.

why does it have to be so expensive?
popular demand are unreasonable if they still have a stock of it
did those surgical mask were running out, when that dude buy that 1200 USD/ 24 surgical mask?

Lets do some math here:
There are 100 masks in that box, right?
He bought 24 boxes for 120,000yen.
That makes 2400 masks for 120,000yen.

Divide 120,000yen by 2400.
You get 50yen per mask, compared to the original price of 10yen(rounded up).

So, each mask costs him 50yen, making it x5 the original price.
Personally, that doesn't really sound very expensive unless you're putting on new masks every hour.

I heard the masks are pretty much ineffective since the bacteria is much smaller than even the masks manufactured with the smallest holes...

Is not aimed at individuals, but to shops.

Here in Kyoto is now very hard to find masks, and in Kobe and Osaka is impossible, so if some shop adquires a new stock of masks, it can be sold at a higher price.

1200 dollars!?!Lucky that my gf is a doc, so i have 100's of masks at home, even i dont use them :P

hmmm, ya pretty logic when you divide it.
But yet with the total amount of the money, i can buy a digicam in my place here.

H1N1 is not airborne. It's only transmitted via bodily fluids. Masks are only effective when the people who are actually sick are the ones wearing it.

"Sadistic surgical masks, Batman!!" XD That is some ridiculous pricing on those masks. O.o I want to say "shame on you" to the person taking advantage of peoples fears like this, but I gotta say that the person has a pretty lucrative business idea. >.>
But for that much, couldn't you just buy a freaking gas mask/re-breather/filter thingy that would be more effective and convenient in the long run? Maybe even a cheap bio-hazard suit? *shrugs*

They had a ton up front at Wallgreens when I swung by this evening... And I do need rent money...

holy crap...

Holy crap, that's a lot of money for surgical masks... if they're really that paranoid couldn't they have just bought a hazmat suit?

Heh, I suddenly thought of it being like a new game console release >.< like PS3 and Wii going for crazy amounts on eBay.

there's been a few outbreaks and closing of schools here but like everyone else here in NYC, no one's doing anything special, did see like 2 asians with a mask but that's it.

ridiculously expensive ¬.¬

i've even never seen anyone wearing masks in my vicinity. lol getting that for tat price only seems crazy to me.

Hah! Masks, what ever happened to toughing it out in the outdoors, without fancy protection! Japan has become soft!

I tried masks before and it's easier to suffocate yourself than to save yourself.

That sure is a lot of money for surgical masks. o.O

wow that's crazy haha. people are leeching the swine flu for all the profit they can get :S

That is just nuts...

What a steal! Can't believe people are so desperate... What are the governments over in Japan doing?? They're like trying to create havoc throughout the country and making people protect themselves.

Eeeh, if you're going to catch the swine flu might as well do it now when the strain is week to build immunity.

This is MADNESS!!!!!!

We might see variations of surgical mask in the future o.O;

Hahaha expected some surgical mask fetish but to this extent.. wow.

Wow, is the problem realy that bad? :S. Good job there haven't been any new cases around here for a while. The English press has forgotten about the disease now, they have bigger fish to fry

LOL good hard cash there!!

My mom said the other day that she didn't get the idea of the masks. If you get infected though eyes, nose or mouth, then you should cover your eyes too. Glasses anyone?

I think the masks are mainly made to keep bacteria/virus inside a person and not to spread it to other people and I think it will do a good job at doing this. This means that the sick would wear it, not the healthy ones.

I do see one positive effect of everybody wearing masks and that is infected people will wear it even before they are aware that they are infected.

mexicans just had to made them, when they got scarce, poor people who cant think a little, also this swine flu is overreacted, the number of people that had died from swinie flu since the first alert, are so small, that is more easy to die from a car accident, from an airplane crash, or heart attack, THANKS MEDIA YOU ARE THE BEST WAY TO SCARE PEOPLE FOR STUPID THINGS

It would have been almost the same amount had the person just bought a level-a hazmat suit.

Wow, that's not even N95 class mask.........

that is awakard but kinda kool

My mask of choice might be expensive, but it looks cool! XD

http://www.deluxetradingcompany.com/pcat-gifs/products-small/Gasmask.jpg

Hm maybe I should cash in on this? >:D

Is Surgical Mask and Flue Mask thesame? Anyway... I'm thinking that perhaps a couple of days now Hand sanitizers would be another epic hit in japan^^ just my intuition.... hehehehehe

man that price is way too high. Wonder how easy can people follow what the media says and can be manipulated by it, scary thought ^^;;;

Someone just needs to put moe designs on the box and masks and they'll go for even higher!

Paranoia Paranoia

I havnt seen anyone, heard of anyone, or known of anyone who EVEN knows someone who has it (Piglet Flu) haha.

Not to mention living in a state that borders Mexico and working at the airport that handles several flights from Mexico each day!

For someone reason Im leaning towards some misdiagnosis on all the cases poping up Japan but thats just a hunch ;)

It seems that Eastern Asian countries are pretty much the only ones in the world that religiously use surgical masks. As much as I applaud this zealotry though, I really don't think it's all that useful in the long run. Then again I'm probably wrong since Japanese people have some of the longest life expectancy rates in the world as far as I know.

Is Japan running out or something?

WOW here, it's only a few dollars for a bunch XD

EXPENSIVE!!!!

Wow.... panic much?

OH SHI~~.....looks like someone's a little too cautious....lolXD haha

I believe a MJOLNIR Mk. V would cost less than that box of masks... or at least offer more protection. XD XD XD XD

I'm going to sell some via Ebay in exchange of dollfie^^

Wow...i guess the companies are really making tons...despite the economic crisis too...

can't really blame them... you know the saying, better safe than sorry!
then again, probably way too many, my guess is he's gonna launder them hurhur

I need to get in the business of selling biohazard suits.

its worth it if it will save your life...LOL

Maybe if we put haruhi on it.we can sell it for MILLLIONS

I have to say... the person who bought it for $1200 sounded quite stupid to me. The person who managed to sell it at that price was...quite lucky ^^;. Furthermore, do you REALLLY REALLY need so many?

Hate those people try to earn big money during other hard time...

That's crazy! I never thought the Japanese obsession with health could go so far.

lol I've never heard of ppl referring to surgical masks by their brandnames until this whole swine flu craziness

Here in Mexicali, Mexico - one of the places where AH1N1 was first found (back when it was plan "swine flu")... the crisis has passed. Almost forgotten. Influenza is so past month.

Sanitary authorities remind us to keep behaving with caution - but mostly our life is normal now. :)

(this is my first reply here at DannyChoo - hello guys!)

The Shwine flu strikes again!

swine flu, avian ,etc sure make people panic !!

remember danny, is not swine flu, is H1N1, swine flu is an incorrect name and not even 1 pig is infected, so nothing to do with swine flu

.....just Surgical Masks is already so expensive, I dont want to even think if it was food in this case.....

1200 dollars on masks? Not even Lelouch's mask is that expensive. lol

That's what 50cents a mask. Not actually that bad. My Universities health services is giving them away for free. I snagged a few.

New computer or surgical masks...hmm...

Tough choice. :P

is going to bring mask from here to there. not sure if i'll use it though. or maybe i can sell it =d
it costs around 4 yen per masks here, but they're those cheap ones, japan's masks must be all hi-tech ones...

it went up for 30 times of the normal price, on other auction, i heard on nhk x_x

If I needed masks that bad, for 1200 USD, I'd hop a plane to China and pick up a couple of boxes and save the S&H.

Whoaahh that's crazy...

I like how people are taking advantage of all the fear to make a few (hundred) bucks. I don't think I've ever seen anyone wear one in the U.S. other than in hospitals.

just buy the bra..
with one bra you can have two mask..

I can't believe it!!! I know they went out of stock but that's just a ridiculous price!