1.
GV Shoppers in street.
0.06

2.
SC Christmas signs PAN TO decorated shops. (2 shots)
0.14

3.
SV Sign on building advertising skating rink.
0.19

4.
GV INT. Shoppers walking through store.
0.24

5.
SV TILT DOWN Christmas decorations.
0.30

6.
SV Mechanical toys.
0.34

7.
CU and SV Shoppers (2 shots)
0.42

8.
CU Girl in ice skates.
0.45

9.
CU ZOOM OUT TO SV small boys on ice rink.
0.50

10.
GV & SV Skaters on ice rink. (2 shots)
1.01

11.
SV Small girl falls and helped by friend.
1.10

12.
SV Small child trying to walk on ice skates while adults watch. (2 shots)
1.20

13.
SV Little girl falls over and stands up again.
1.26



Initials LD/VS 13.00



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The Mitsukoshi Department store in central Tokyo's Shinjuku district, has just installed a plastic ice-skating rink....hoping to lure more Christmas shoppers.

The rink, considered less slippery and safer than ice, is expected to be a bonus for mothers who want to leave their children there while they get on with their shopping.

The rink cost more than 150,000 dollars (60,000 pounds sterling) and is based on a trial scheme developed in California. Already - less than a month after it was inaugurated - the shop is claiming it a success, with some 400 people using it each day.

SYNOPSIS: Christmas shopping is in full swing in central Tokyo's Shinjuku district.

In the battle for the customers' attention, a plastic ice-skating rink is being offered for the amusement of the shoppers at the Mitsukoshi department store. It is hoped that mothers, wishing to look at toys and other Christmas goods without their children, can leave their offspring at the rooftop rink.

Already the idea is said to have caught on....some four hundred people a day are skimming over the plastic surface.....and the one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar investment is considered money well spent.

The rink is said to be particularly safe for children.....who, even if they do fall on the surface which is less slippery than ice, don't get their clothes wet and catch chills. Although it requires a bit more effort to keep the skates moving on the slower surface, stopping and turning is said to be easier than on ice.