Crowds Throng Around Vendors of Olympic Badges (February 13) The streets of downtown Nagano are now crowded with Olympic visitors. Souvenir shop owners say that the items that are selling best are Olympic-related goods. Particularly popular are pins and badges from Nagano and past Olympic Games. For the most part, they're being sold by street-corner vendors, who're setting up shop anywhere they can--on top of electric cable boxes and next to fountains. Most of the pins feature pictograms, Games emblem, and Olympic mascots. The pins are so popular that there's usually a big crowd around the vendors, and it can be hard just getting close enough to see them. They range in price from a few hundred yen to a few thousand yen, with limited-issue versions demanding higher prices. (Reported by Shun Okuno and Kotaro Higuma, Shinonoi Nishi Middle School)

Visitors to Nagano check out the Olympic pins on display. Badges come in all different shapes, colors, and price ranges.

Olympic reports from our student correspondents TOP