Sales of official Tokyo Olympics merchandise such as badges and keyrings have been surging as Japan's medal haul grows, with fans taking risks against COVID-19 infections by queuing outside stores.
The traffic surge even made the official online store temporarily inaccessible.
Popular goods such as pin badges and mugs quickly sold out in an official shop in Tokyo's Shinjuku district after the games got underway.
As Japan's gold medal count increased, TV programming became dominated by Olympic competitions, further stoking interest in the merchandise.
According to a store in Osaka, keyrings with pictograms, especially of basketball and judo, are among the most popular goods, as performers posing to match the pictograms during the opening ceremony garnered global attention.
The Osaka store's manager said he is hopeful that if Japan wins more medals, the outlet will attract more customers.
