For Japanese people, is the table sacred, or is it a consumable item?

There is a major difference between Japan and overseas in how table tennis tables are viewed

In table tennis, the competition takes place on a wooden table called a “table tennis table.” Among all the sports out there, there is no other event in which athletes move and hit a Ball around a playing area that exists on a “table” rather than on a Floor or a field.

Table tennis is said to have originated in 1880s Britain, where aristocrats who enjoyed lawn tennis played an indoor miniature version as a rainy-day pastime. The size of a table tennis table is “2,740 mm long x 1,525 mm wide x 760 mm high.” Written in millimeters, those numbers feel a little awkward, but that is a remnant of the original standard, which was defined in feet as “9 feet long x 5 feet wide.”

If you search online, you can find inexpensive table tennis tables for around 30,000 to 40,000 yen. However, because the tabletop is thin and the legs are flimsy, they may be fine for recreation, but their durability for competitive use cannot be guaranteed. The Ball bounce is also inadequate. By contrast, catalogues from specialty makers such as BUTTERFLY, Nittaku, VICTAS, and San-ei list competition models at around 100,000 to 200,000 yen. The tabletop is thicker, the legs are sturdier, and setup and moving can be done smoothly. If you want to really trade Balls, it naturally takes a fair amount of money.