[Nyororin]

I find it very hard to imagine masks selling out in Japan... Maybe in some specific corner, in some specific stores - but masks are not a specialty item in Japan. A local drugstore has a whole aisle dedicated to varieties of masks. Everyone uses masks normally, during the winter for protection from colds/flu and during allergy season to block pollen.

In other words, while masks MAY have a short term boom, trust me when I say that they will restock in no time. Anything other than a store not having enough in immediate stock is pretty unthinkable. If anyone thinks that the countless mask producers in Japan aren`t going to jump and start churning them out like there is no tomorrow, they`ll have a very rude wake up call when they find themselves stuck with pile of masks that are an unknown brand. Even in the tiny tiny chance that there really is a serious shortage - who is going to buy a mask they have no clue about the quality/properties of?