 |
| |
|
 |
 |
|
|
Counting pluses, minuses for co-hosts
TOKYO (AP) -- The World Cup brought good news to some. Digital TV sales, the thirst for beer and a craving for jerseys of blue and red, the team colors for co-hosts Japan and South Korea, all shot up during the month-long festivities. The tournament, which ended Sunday, also delivered a bit of the economic doldrums. While sports pubs everywhere and boxed-lunch stores near stadiums were booming, restaurants and travel suffered as nearly everyone turned into a homebody to watch the games on TV. And a big event comes with a big bill. Security and other World Cup-related expenses at team camp sites are expected to cost local communities millions of dollars. Although the tally is not yet final, the town of Tsuna, the camp site for the English team, is preparing to foot a bill of about US$750,000. Maintaining Miyagi stadium, where three World Cup games were played, will cost the prefecture US$2.3 million a year. As with other stadiums, prospects for turning profits at Miyagi stadium are slim. Only one professional soccer game is scheduled there this season. It's too early for a precise count of how the pluses stack up against the minuses for both Japan and South Korea, where tough economic times had stirred hopes for a little help from the World Cup. On the negative side, ticket distribution problems, which left thousands of empty seats at the games, are still under investigation and have left a sour aftertaste. Attendance at the games totaled 2.7 million, short of the 2.8 million tickets that went on sale. On the plus side, the World Cup brought international attention to the two nations and delivered an outpouring of energy that could turn into economic growth. "Hope is critical for demand," said Keiichi Matsumura, economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute, a Tokyo think-tank. "Everyone in Japan had been in a conservative mood, but the World Cup teams have taught us we need to take risks." The World Cup has left both South Korea and Japan in an upbeat mood. No one had expected so much from either underdog. South Korea stunned the world by reaching the semifinals, while Japan made it to the second round in just its second World Cup. A cautious mindset in Japan has been a major factor prolonging its decade-long slowdown. Consumption has been faltering, and companies have been holding back on capital spending. A psychological lift from the World Cup -- the solitary bit of bright news to arrive in a long time -- could help wipe out some of the worries and get companies to take up challenges and people to start spending again, Matsumura said. South Korea found an excellent opportunity to show off its business prowess. "The biggest impact is the upgrade in our national image and brand power of South Korean companies in the global market," Choi Woo-sock of Samsung Economic Research Institute in Seoul told the business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun. The World Cup brought its share of material perks. In South Korea, sales of digital TVs totaled 28,000 in April, increased to 50,000 in May and are expected to total 60,000 in June. Digital TV sales in Japan quadrupled over the last month from a year ago to 40,000, according to an organization of electronics retailers. People turning on their TVs surged more than 15 percent at one point to watch Japan's games, adding 500,000 kilowatts of electricity use at Tokyo Electric Power Co. In South Korea, sales of local beer jumped 50 percent in June from last year, as people celebrated the national team's success. In Japan, the demand for imported beer Guinness and Kilkenny tripled from last year as pubs got into the World Cup spirit. Less measurable are the memories. "In these heavily pessimistic times, the World Cup pumped a kindness and vigor into people's hearts," the nationally circulated Asahi newspaper said. Masaji Suzuki, who watched the games on TV, said he was looking forward to the next World Cup. "The Japanese team fought hard," the 48-year-old store owner recalled. "It was fun. I miss it."
|
|
|||||||||
| |||||||||||
