http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=kuchikomi&id=300
Cops look into IsraeliÂhawkers
In almost any of Tokyo's larger entertainment zones, one comes across young Israelis and people of other nationalities hawking trinkets that range from handicrafts to imitations of famous brand watches. This, of course, has been going on for well over a decade. On May 1, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department completed its latest investigation into the trade.
According to an article in the Sankei Shimbun (May 2), about 80% of the hawkers are Israeli. Police determined that many are in Japan on short-term tourist visas. When picked up for illegal street peddling and questioned by the authorities, they invariably maintain that they were introduced to the jobs "by friends." But the sales tables, illumination and power generators â which are dropped off at the sales site each evening by supply trucks â not to mention the value of the goods themselves, led the cops to the brilliant conclusion that "tourists could not come up such a large amount of goods on their own," and that they must therefore be supplied by a large organization.
The Sankei article also raised the possibility of arrangements to ensure "peaceful coexistence" between the Israeli peddlers and Japanese crime syndicates.
"There are very few conflicts, which suggests to us that they have an arrangement to pay 'protection' for the right to sell on the sidewalks," says a cop.
The source of the merchandise, police have determined, is through illegal use of international courier services, from Hong Kong in the case of counterfeit Rolex, Bvlgari and Cartier watches and South Korea for phony designer leather goods. Many wristwatches are so-called "super copies," difficult to distinguish from the real thing except on close inspection. They sell for between 1-10th to 1-100th the price of authentic goods. Likewise for the Louis Vuitton and Chanel handbags.
In response to strong appeals on the part of legitimate manufacturers, police have increased their enforcement, and up to April 28 of this year, the MPD had apprehended 14 individuals on charges of violating the trademark law for selling counterfeits. This is about double the number of cases since 2002.
A spokesperson for the Association for Auto-Control of Distribution tells the Sankei reporter, "The goods that reflect the highest popularity among consumers are also those most likely to be copied and sold on the street. There seems to be no end to the number of people who will purchase them out of curiosity."
May 5, 2004
