Organizers of Aichi World Expo are giving the world a lesson in the art of consumer screwing, which has been honed to perfection by Japanese businessmen and politicians over the years.

It goes like this. . . You make up rules that sound good on paper but have absolutely no factual basis. Then you use the bogus rules to force consumers to purchase goods and services only from approved or licensed vendors, who, since they do not need to worry about competition or market forces, are free to charge exorbitant prices — and so they do. Any complaints or appeals to reason are parried by a smile and a shrug, accompanying the pleasant sounding (yet totally bogus),　shikata ga nai (It can’t be helped.) Finally (and maybe most importantly), never, ever, ever admit to the consumer that you were wrong.

At Aichi World Expo, the scam is being played pretty much by the book. The bogus rules were created under the mantle of the trendy buzzwords “safety issues” and terrorism.”

Organizers claimed the ban on people from bringing in their own food was to prevent them from contracting food poisoning.

The association said it banned canned and bottled soft drinks as a counter-terrorism measure.

Excuse my ignorance, but since when did soft drinks become a terrorist weapon? And if food poisoning in homemade food is an issue, why has there not been more of it reported in the media? I can recall hearing exactly no reports of this pressing issue until now.

Well, once they had their rules in place, they were enforced. Japanese media showed signs of families dumping lovingly made box lunches in order to gain admission into the Expo site (shikata ga nai, ne?)

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is trying to pressure organizers to change their policy, but don’t forget that screw-the-consumer scammers can never, ever, ever admit that they were wrong.

Organizers and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said they were working to come up with a revised policy that would meet Koizumi’s request.

But canned and bottled drinks, as well as pre-packed bento, seem likely to remain banned.

I don’t know, but I would be willing to bet that on-site vendors are selling drinks and bento at prices that are at least double and maybe even triple of what is charged outside the gates.