Making a Fortune with Time Travel: 'Oyaji Rock' / What is a Time Paradox? Extra Edition

Over the past three installments, we have looked at stories using the time paradox, specifically the phenomenon known as the "Ontological Paradox." This time, we have a story that explores the same theme but incorporates a different idea called "Oyaji Rock," making it a truly unique story.

It is also a story about making money using a time paradox, but it avoids the cliché of using future horse racing results to buy winning tickets in the past. Instead, it is a complicated get-rich-quick scheme that combines a marketing technique using crowd psychology called the stampede phenomenon with a paradox.

"Oyaji Rock"
(S-F Magazine, July 1977 issue / Complete Collection "SF Unique Short Stories" Vol. 3)

Now, let's take a look at this unique story.

Oyaji Rock is a giant stone that a salesman is trying to sell, having jumped at the chance for a 50% margin, but as expected, it isn't selling at all. Just as he gives up on further promotion and sits on a bench in a housing complex, a man approaches, interested in the boulder.

That man is also a salesman in the same line of work, dealing in some travel gear, but it seems he isn't selling anything either. He then asks for details about the Oyaji Rock.

Oyaji Rock seems to have been inspired by "Pet Rock," a gag gift that treats a pebble like a pet, but scaled up. It is not a pet, but a boulder that projects the image of the "stubborn old man" whose authority has rapidly vanished from Japanese households. It is a boulder that projects the image of the "stubborn old man" whose authority has rapidly vanished from Japanese households.

At first, I thought it was ridiculous, but upon researching, I found that "Pet Rock" was indeed a product released in Japan that became a hot topic. According to Wiki, it became a boom in the US in the 1970s and was released by Tomy in 1977. Since this work was also published in 1977, the idea was perfectly timed. By the way, the boom seems to have faded in half a year, but it sold 5 million units worldwide with sales of 674 million... What an incredible business.

"Oyaji Rock," created to piggyback on the "Pet Rock" craze, has a list price of 200,000 yen, with a fairly aggressive price setting of 100,000 yen only during the promotional period.

The man passionately argues that he has handled sales in various industries, but sales cannot be established where there is no need.

Then, the other salesman interrupts.

"No... there are cases where it doesn't work even if there is a need."

He then begins to explain his own merchandise. Have you ever dreamed of time travel? Going back and forth to the past or future. With this "Time Travelt", time travel of one month forward or backward is possible. The price is a special offer of 100,000 yen.

The Oyaji Rock salesman is stunned by this sudden, cartoonish story. Seeing this, the Time Travelt salesman immediately reacts, saying, "That look!" He adds that he never thought it would be this difficult to sell a time machine in modern Japan.

The Time Travelt salesman explains that even if he tries to run ads or publicity, they are regulated, and if he demonstrates it, people think it's a hallucination or he ends up in a mental hospital, receiving the usual reactions. Moreover, since it was something a local inventor accidentally created, the product lacks any credibility.

Hearing this, the Oyaji Rock salesman boasts that if he had a time machine, he could sell anything. He says he will borrow the belt and go out to sell Oyaji Rock. The margin is 70% of sales. Of course,as a joke.

A while later, the man runs back, unable to hide his excitement.

"This really is a genuine time machine!"

The man has sold the Oyaji Rock that was so difficult to move, and he calls the company to tell them to send all the remaining stock. What kind of technique did he use to make such massive sales possible?

According to the man, he created a new sales point that can handle any product by applying a time paradox. The trick is as follows.

He goes door-to-door in an apartment complex to sell Oyaji Rock, waits for the reaction that they don't know what it is, and then retorts, "You don't know about it yet?" At this point, hesecretly activates the time machine, jumps to the world one month later, and moves to a neighbor's room.

There, Oyaji Rock has been delivered, and people are being soothed by it. Then, when he tells them thatmost of the residents in the complex have already bought it, they say, "Give us one too, quickly!"

The salesman explains it like this.

He used the stampede phenomenon (avalanche effect). He says that in Japan,once the household penetration rate exceeds 50%, sales grow explosively.Color TVs, high school enrollment rates... By showing that it is selling, you can expect even more sales.

"You're the only one who doesn't have it."

That is the ultimate sales point.

This sales activity uses a time paradox, but since there is no detailed explanation in the story, I will supplement it here. The flow is as follows.

"You don't have it?" he provokes.
　　↓
When he moves to one month later, a state where it is selling has been created.
　　↓
Seeing that, it really sells.

The point is that the starting point is asking, "You don't have it?" at the present moment. Based on that, with the conviction that it must be selling, he goes to one month later with the time machine, and it really is selling.

In other words,without the initial track record of a single sale, a scene where it has sold is created in the future, and by seeing that, it actually starts selling.that is how it works.

It is a typical "Bootstrap" paradox, but is it a bit confusing?

As for the punchline, the salesmen argue over the margin, and they activate the time machine to go back one hour. The Oyaji Rock remains unsold, and the salesman stands there, thinking he had a strange dream because of the heat.

While the idea of 'Old Man Rock' is very striking, this work is a fine example of a time paradox story as well. Using the 'Circle of Existence' familiar to fans of Fujiko F. Fujio, it is crafted into a work for adults that also satirizes the tendency of Japanese people to be easily swayed.

Also, the setting that the time machine can only travel one month forward or backward is a somewhat novel idea. It seems like other works could be created using this specific element.

Well, over the course of four parts, I have covered works themed around time paradoxes, particularly the 'Circle of Existence.' If you haven't read the other articles, I would be very happy if you could jump over to them from this collection of links.