Get Your Souvenirs Nhl Jerseys, Pins, Buddhist Items Among Most Popular With Tourists

Finding the Snowlets stuffed owls may be an Olympic-sized challenge, but there are still enough souvenirs in Nagano to last the dedicated shopper another four years. Here’s a sampling of what’s big in Nagano:

NHL jerseys - Get ‘em while they’re hot, and at only $200 apiece, they’re a real steal. For somebody.

According to Fumiaki Imaizumi, the most sought-after players’ jerseys are those of Paul Kariya (who isn’t here), Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier (who also isn’t here) and Pavel Bure.

Pins - They’re everywhere. Pin stalls, almost always run by foreigners, are among the most popular hangouts in the city. If there’s a crowd on the street, chances are it’s full of people looking at pins.

Roots berets - Bright red, just like the ones by that famous Canadian clothier that the Canadian team wears. The fans in Nagano are snapping them up at Canada House, or at the NHL Japan Shop just behind the hockey venue. The price - a mere $78.

Buddhist stuff - Amulets, rosaries, incense, lucky dolls. Straight from one of the oldest temples in Japan. Prices vary from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars.

Japanese in Dutch

Florists in the Netherlands aren’t tossing bouquets at Nagano Olympics organizers.

Flower executives grumble that Dutch speedskaters, who dominated the awards podium again with an unprecedented medals sweep in the men’s 10,000 meters, aren’t getting fitting floral tributes.

Gold medalist Gianni Romme, silver medalist Bob de Jong and bronze winner Rintje Ritsma got a small bunch of red, pink and yellow flowers bound with a pink ribbon. “Those bouquets are poor. It’s as simple as that,” Warren de Vroe of the International Flower Bulb Center said Wednesday.

De Vroe’s organization, which represents hundreds of Dutch flower growers and exporters, had offered to provide bouquets to all medalists for free. The Japanese politely refused.

“The problem is that what they are doing, for Japanese standards, is out of this world,” he said. “But the rest of the world sees a nasty little bunch of flowers.”

Utah plans buffalo venue

Organizers of the 2002 Winter Games plan to use a taste of the American West to spice up at least three sports.

Since the venue for cross-country, biathlon and Nordic combined events will be the only Olympic venue in Utah’s Wasatch County, the locals are eager to put on a good show. A herd of buffalo may be brought in to roam the venue, and plans are being made for a rodeo, Western-style cookouts and other festivities.

“We want to make it more of an event than perhaps it’s been here,” said John N. Aalberg, chief organizer of the 2002 cross country and biathlon events.

Blueprints and cost estimates for the venue are being worked on, and actual construction should start this fall. The Salt Lake Olympic Committee has earmarked $17 million for developing the site.

Their kind of town

American ice dancers Jared Swallow and Elizabeth Punsalan said they will compete at the world championships next month in Minneapolis. “We’ve been to Minneapolis many times and it’s a great city with lots to do,” Swallow said.

That’s in distinct contrast to the opinion expressed by Pasha Grishuk. Grishuk, who changed her name from Oksana to Pasha to avoid confusion with Oksana Baiul and further her career, said earlier this week that Minnesota is not a very exciting place for her and wasn’t sure whether she would go.

Said Swallow: “If she goes there she’ll probably change her name to the Artist Formerly Known As Pasha Grishuk.”