Netizens Up in Arms After South Korea Reveals Cracks in Corrugated Cardboard Beds Worth Hundreds of Thousands of Yen

According to domestic media reports on July 28, the Tokyo Olympics were in full swing, but what many people had previously worried about - that the cardboard beds in the Olympic Village, worth hundreds of thousands of yen, would crack - has come true. However, once the news spread, it immediately sparked heated discussion.

It is reported that, for the sake of "environmental protection" and to help the Tokyo Organizing Committee save on labor costs, the beds in the rooms of the Tokyo Olympic Village are assembled from boxes made of more than 50 pieces of corrugated cardboard, and the mattress material is polyethylene, with no screws or glue used; the cost of one such bed is about 150,000 to 250,000 yen, equivalent to about 8,800 to 15,000 yuan. The manufacturer of the cardboard bed, "Airweave," had claimed that this 2.1-meter-long cardboard bed could bear a weight of about 200 kg; Takashi Kitajima, general manager of the Tokyo Olympic Village, even boasted shamelessly that the cardboard bed was sturdier than a wooden bed; and on July 19, the International Olympic Committee even posted a message on social media specifically saying that these beds were "very sturdy."

However, after the cardboard bed showed its "true face" on social media, many people worried that the cardboard beds would crack. And American track and field athlete Paul Chelimo did not hide his disdain for the cardboard bed at all - he felt the bed would surely collapse and that he would practice sleeping on the floor. In addition, after arriving at the Tokyo Olympic Village, Chelimo went into full swing on social media complaining that "this bed does not work."

It is worth mentioning that, regarding the public's concern about the quality of the cardboard beds, on July 21, Chinese weightlifting athlete Li Wenwen, who weighed 147.95 kg when she swept three gold medals at the 2019 World Championships, posted a video on social media telling everyone not to worry, because she herself slept on the floor. However, compared with Li Wenwen's "cleverness," South Korean men's weightlifter in the over 109 kg category Jin Yun-seong (transliterated) was not so "lucky." On local time July 27, Jin Yun-seong posted on social media that the bed he slept on in the Olympic Village had "cracked."

Jin Yun-seong complained that the cardboard bed, which uses various high technologies and novel designs and can bear 200 kg of weight, had actually cracked, and the joint between the bed board and the bed legs had broken off entirely. He then laughed at himself helplessly, saying, "Just hold on for one more week." It should be mentioned that although Jin Yun-seong did not reveal the reason the bed cracked, a week earlier, a rower from the New Zealand team had sat down and collapsed a cardboard bed, triggering a wave of doubts about the quality of the cardboard beds.

As for Jin Yun-seong's experience of not even being able to sleep on an intact bed, South Korean netizens were furious and complained about the matter one after another, and called on the South Korean team to learn from the US team and "escape" the Olympic Village to move into hotels with better conditions; some South Korean netizens even lamented, "To what extent do the Japanese want to show their bad side?" The focus of Chinese netizens, however, was the price of the cardboard bed, and they pointed out one after another that more than 50 pieces of corrugated cardboard were worth 8,800 to 15,000 yuan, and that this price was too absurd.

It is worth noting that many prices at the Tokyo Olympics were very high and drew wild complaints. On July 27, after winning the gold medal in the mixed team 10 m air pistol event at the Tokyo Olympics, Chinese athlete Jiang Ranxin was asked in a media interview "why she had not taken a photo with the mascot in the Tokyo Olympic Village," and she revealed: "Because it costs money, 5,000 yen (about 295.46 yuan) each time." Many netizens were shocked and exclaimed, "Have they taken in all the economists in the world? Monetizing everything."

——This article is reprinted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-377953.html